The masked Charro
by Axis28
Summary: Star goes to a royal event and end up meeting a stranger who she doesn't recognize, little does she know, it's her best friend, Marco Diaz. But will her feelings for this stranger cause a rift to form between the two friends? Or will Marco loose himself in this new persona?
1. Chapter 1

**So … here it is … after months of work … speaking of which, I would like to remind everyone that this story was started around the beginning of season two (a long time, I know) as wish, a lot of the plot details from the middle of season two (aka BBTBC) are … difficult for me to work with. But I digress, the reason I'm starting this today instead of Monday like I planned is because someone on Tumblr called me soft, so now I will be having your hearts on a plate (I'm sure they were being playful but there's no better reason to move up my schedule). I would talk more but I've talked enough for my first chapter and I'm sure you guys just want to get right to it … and I need to get to breakfast. With this being the first chapter, there are no reviews for me to go over yet.**

 **Disclaimer: Star vs. the Forces of Evil characters belong to Daron Nefcy.**

 **Beta read by Sabrina06**

* * *

(No one's POV)

Star and Marco were on their way home from school after a relatively average day. "You know, dodge ball isn't usually played with live sharks, right?" Marco asked as they made their way down the street.

"I thought it'd be more fun." Star replied as she skipped along beside him.

"Was giving them legs and the ability to breathe air also fun?" Marco asked as he glanced at her.

"I thought that they would make the game more interesting." Star replied nonchalantly.

Marco let out a sigh of frustration and pleasure; although Star's antics still got under his skin, they became part of his daily life which he quickly accepted. "And here I was thinking that you had finally gotten a hand of Earth stuff."

"Please." Star began nonchalantly. "I've been on Earth for two years; I think I've got this Earth stuff down cold."

"One year, nine months, and twelve days," Marco corrected. "And I wouldn't say that you have it 'down cold'."

Star rolled her eyes. "Well I have it down well enough."

"Well enough to not embarrass yourself in front of the person you have a crush on?" Marco mocked. "Speaking of which, how is Oscar? You haven't changed him into any more giant insects, have you?"

Star pulled a one eighty and faced Marco, her joyful smile replaced with a hatful glare. "Diaz!" She began as she pointed her wand at the boy. "You should know better than to mention that incident! And you're one to talk, or did you forget what happened between you and Jackie?"

"I keep telling you, it was a completely mutual break up!" Marco retorted. The two stared angrily at each other, ready to tear each other apart, until they both burst into laughter.

"Man, I really did over fanaticize her, didn't I?" Marco said as soon as his laughing fit subsided.

"And I can't believe how upset Oscar was, I mean did you see how awesome he looked? He should have been thanking me for what I did." Star added.

Star and Marco walked up to each other and threw their arms around each other's shoulders. "Good riddance to old crushes." Marco said.

"Yeah, Oscar was as dull as a hammer." Star replied.

The two of them continued home, sharing a smile.

"So what's the plan for today?" Marco asked as they walked into the house. "What dimensions will we be adventuring to?"

"It's a surprise." Star replied. "Just let me put my backpack away."

Star began making her way up steps as Marco watched her with a knowing smile. "Did you remember to finish your homework?"

"Uhh … did you?" Star replied.

Marco shook his head. "I finished it in study hall while you were trying to build the Eiffel Tower using pencils … and subsequently magic."

"I'll take care of it." Star said as she ran up stairs.

Marco watched as a soft smile formed on his face; he had always liked Star and she had always been able to put a smile on his face. Then ever since he had gotten over Jackie, he had begun to grow more attached with his relationship with her. It wasn't just that he was in love with Sta, he had always had mixed feelings for her; but she had become a part of his life, one that he didn't want to lose. Though as he stood there contemplating his complicated feelings for his best friend, he began to notice that she had been upstairs for an unusually long time. He waited a little bit longer before realizing that she wasn't going to come down any time soon and the possible reasons worried him. "Star?" He called as he began making his way upstairs. He walked up to her door and gave a quick knock. "Star, you in there?"

He heard some rummaging before the door flew open with Star standing there; a slightly surprised look on her face. "Yeah, sorry I … got caught up with something."

"While putting your backpack away?" Marco asked. "You've been up here for more than ten minutes."

"Sorry, I lost track of time." She replied.

"Doing what?" Marco asked. Star pursed her lips as she looked away. Marco looked at her strangely before noticing a piece of paper that was sticking out of her desk that wasn't usually there. It wasn't all that suspicious but as he turned his head to look at it. Star noticed his head turn and quickly moved to stand between him and the paper; indicating to Marco that it was of more importance than he initially thought. "What is that?"

"Nothing." Star replied as she looked away and began playing with the ends of her hair.

Marco looked at her for a moment before shaking his head. "Could you be any more obvious?"

"What obvious? I no make obvious." Star said while beads of sweat began to form on her forehead.

Marco moved to get a better look at the paper as Star tried to block his view, he managed to catch a glimpse of some fancy bordering along the outside of the paper as well as some writing on it that he couldn't make out. "Is that … is that a letter?" He asked.

"No!" Star replied.

Marco began to feel worried as he began to assume the purpose of such a letter. "Is it from Mewni? Is it what I think it is?"

"What?" Star asked. "No it's not from-"

"Oh my gosh, it's from your parents, isn't it?" Marco asked as worry began to overtake him. He looked to the side as he placed both his hands on his head and began to talk in a hushed tone. " They're taking you back to Mewni aren't they." He gripped his forehead in frustration as he shut his eyes. "Of course they are, I mean you're almost sixteen, their probably going to-"

"It's just a royal invitation!" Star exclaimed breaking Marco from his panic attack.

"You're not leaving?" Marco asked, the fear in his voice replaced with relief.

"No." Star answered. "It's just an invitation to a … royal ball."

"Oh." Marco said as a new feeling began to come over him. "Another one?" Star nodded and Marco nodded with her. "Well … it's good that you're not leaving at least." Star nodded again. Marco looked at Star as they stood there in silence for a moment, both hoping that this time wouldn't result in an argument. "Should I bother asking?"

"It's a masquerade ball." Star answered. "It's a celebration of-"

"Not that." Marco interrupted.

Star closed her eyes and exhaled. "No Marco, you weren't invited."

Marco nodded as he tried to hide his annoyance. "When is it?"

Star looked down slightly with a worried look on her face. "Tomorrow."

"Ah, Friday." Marco replied as he tried to fake a smile. "So … I'm guessing our usual movie marathon is canceled … again?"

"You know I don't have any control over these things Marco!" Star defended. "As the princess of Mewni, I have to start attending more royal events."

Marco could think up a number of good comebacks to Star's flimsy defense but opted for the most direct and nicest one. "That's not the point Star." He replied. "I get it, you're royal, you have royal obligations that you would rather be doing."

"I wouldn't rather be doing any of them!" Star retorted.

Marco rolled his eyes and continued. "Again, not the point! I want to know, why am I never allowed to come to any of these."

Star stared at him for a moment before walking over to her desk, opening her drawer, and pulling out the golden mask that she had placed inside. "This ball is invitation only and you can only get in if you have one of these, I only have one and it's meant specifically for me so you can't come."

Marco sighed as his head dropped. "Okay … but every week, sometimes every other week or every third week, for the past nine months, you've been going to another royal party or ball and you mean to tell me that you couldn't bring a guest to any of them?"

"Not a one." Star replied as she rocked back and forth on her toes. "You need an invitation and I know that you were never sent an invitation to any of them, because like I've told you, I have checked."

Marco paused before shaking his head and walking out. "You probably have a lot of preparations to take care of, so I will leave you alone now."

"Marco!" Star called after him. "Come on, we can still do our movie nights on Saturdays!"

"I'll stick to keeping the movie night on Friday." Marco replied as he stormed out.

"You're going to watch them, without me?" She asked, a little heart broken.

Marco stopped at Star's door and turned around to look the princess in the eye. "You can do something by yourself and I can do something by myself, simple as that." He slammed the door and stormed off to his room.

Star looked at the door, feeling a little guilty. Although she didn't think Marco would be allowed to come to most of the events, she never actually checked. Thing is, like Marco, Star's feelings for her best friend had grown; but they grew far past the point of just friends a long time ago and they were still growing. This wasn't really a bad thing, heck, she might even enjoy the idea of going out with him. She didn't feel ready for the kind of permanent relationship that would come with being with someone with whom she already had a strong bond. Star was young and still wanted to have fun and see the universe with her best friend by her side; going through dimensions, beating up bad guys, and falling for the occasional cute guy ... and Marco wasn't just another cute guy. Sure, she could still do all the adventuring with him and whatnot but it was still the end of a chapter in her life; one which she didn't think was over quite yet. The thing is, most of the royal events were far from unromantic, and she wanted to avoid an incident like the one that happened at the blood moon ball that might shift their relationship to a level that Star wasn't ready for. This was not something she wanted to explain to Marco for a variety of reasons, so she figured that it was just a better idea to keep Marco away from the boring, slightly romantic, royal events as much as possible. At least until she was sure she was ready. Yes, Marco would be upset, but so far things have always blown over and they were friends again no sooner than two days later.

Unbeknownst to Star however, there was much more to Marco's anger regarding royal events. In fact, as he walked into his room, his eyes rolled at the sight of a box sitting at his desk. "Of course." He said as he sat in his chair and pulled off the letter. "Dear Marco Diaz, as Star's personal retainer, you are hereby invited to attend the bla bla bla bla bla, I don't care." He said as he tossed the letter onto his desk. It was beginning to get annoying. On average every other week, Star would get another royal invitation, lie to Marco, saying that he wasn't invited, and leave, canceling any plans they had. It didn't seem to matter how long the plans were set. She would come back later that night pretending like she didn't have a good time, and Marco would be mad at her for the next two or three days. It didn't help matters either that Star wasn't hanging out with him on the days he was willing to talk to her either; she had begun hanging with Janna most of the time or just going out on her own without telling Marco. That was fine and all, she was her own person, but Marco couldn't shake the feeling that she wanted to get rid of him. Therefor telling her about the invitations might lead to an end to their friendship, which was something Marco wanted to avoid.

Marco stared at the box for a moment before letting out a sigh. "Why do I even bother anymore?" He reached into his desk drawer and lifted up the false bottom revealing his numerous royal invitations. "Gota say, haven't heard them call me a retainer very often." He said before looking through them. "Dear Marco Diaz, as Star's personal body guard you are invited to accompany her …" Her skipped to the next one. "Body guard, body guard, servant, body guard, servant, body guard, … escort? Isn't Star the one who would choose me to be an escort?" He asked. He threw the pile of invitations back into the drawer and looked at his newest addition. "One more to the pile." He was about to throw it in with all the others until he paused and read it one more time. "Invited to attend …" He put the invite onto his desk as he pulled out the stack again and began reading them over one more time. For the most part he had been invited to accompany Star. That meant that even if he did bring it to Star's attention, it was still her choice whether or not he came and he figured that with all that was going on, she wouldn't want him there anyway. On a few occasions though, he was invited to attend, meaning that it didn't matter if Star wanted him there or not. That however wouldn't stop Star from seeing him there which would cause a very awkward confrontation. This being a masquerade ball though, Star wouldn't know that he was there; meaning that he was free to attend without the fear of Star noticing him. "Hm … a masquerade ball … yeah … she won't even know I'm there." He had a lot of work to do.

* * *

 **As a quick note, I will not be doing this same POV for the entire story, I tried, it didn't feel right for some reason. Now how about I get to that breakfast.**

 **Have a nice day!**


	2. Chapter 2

**And here is yet another chapter to my story which if I haven't mentioned it yet, I will be updating on Fridays. Now I know that a lot of you really want to know what will happen and trust me, you will find out. Hopefully soon but for now, let's get to those reviews (man, it feels good to say that again).**

 **Joseftanti: I will, don't worry.**

 **ScanixonGaming: Ha ha … well, thank you anyway.**

 **SonicE1337: Yeah, I really wanted to keep it like that but it was simply too difficult. Hopefully my next one will be like that.**

 **Lol: Every Friday.**

 **Guest: I will.**

 **MarcornDiaz: Slow down, you've only gotten the first chapter.**

 **Guest Sorta: Nice to see you again.**

 **H. Mae: I know, I just wanted to show it.**

 **Captin jar: And you will get more.**

 **ThunderMist36: Yay! That makes me happy.**

 **HiatusQueen: This is me we're talking about here, of course I will include teases of Star's emotions for Marco while tearing away at their hearts bit by bit.**

 **BlitzKraig: I will.**

 **EVAunit42: Glad to have you on board E, and thank you.**

 **Disclaimer: Star vs. the Forces of Evil characters belong to Daron Nefcy.**

 **Beta read by Sabrina06**

* * *

(Marco's POV)

I was going through my closet looking for something to wear. It was true, I would have the mask on, but I needed to be careful or Star would recognize me; then I would have ruined her night all over again. I was searching through my closet when I came upon my outfit from the blood moon ball. "Nah, Star might recognize this … I could wear the pants though." I said as I threw the pants onto my bed and put the rest back. "Maybe something a little more formal?" I reached for my tux and laid it on my bed. "Not a bad idea … but then again, this is another dimension ball, if I just go, it would be rather obvious that I'm from Earth … I think the list of Earthlings who know about this ball is rather short." I went back to my closet and began rummaging through it again. "Ah, this might be useful." I said as I pulled out a red dress shirt and brought it over to my bed. I began considering wearing my tux jacket over my red shirt but the jacket was simply too thick for my liking. I brought my tux back to my closet and went through it some more until I found a black jacket with a tighter fit. "Much better." I said before bringing it over to my bed. As I looked at the unfinished outfit before me, I realized that I was most likely going to need a tie, and as I rummaged through my closet, I managed to find a red bow tie that would do the trick. "Perfect."

I looked at the completed outfit and considered. "Hm … maybe I'll change it up later." I paused before I realized one more detail that might be a problem. "Damn it." I said as I grabbed a piece of my hair and looked at it, sure it wasn't the most obvious thing but there was still a chance that Star would recognize it, and that was a chance that I needed to avoid. "Should I cut it? No, she would see it when I got home. I could dye it and change it back after, might be cutting it close." I thought to myself for a moment. "I guess I could use temporary dye … I'd still need to wash it out before Star sees me."

I picked up my outfit and brought it back to my closet for tomorrow. "I still need to go out and get some hair dye." I said as I began to put the letter away only to give it one more look just in case I missed something. "Let's see … invited to attend … secrecy is a must … nope, doesn't look like I'm missing anything." I put the box in my closet along with my outfit for the ball and put the invitation back in my secret compartment. "Well, that should take care of everything except the hair." I put everything back and closed my closet door just as I heard a knock at my door. "Hm?"

"Marco?" I heard Star's voice.

"What does she want?" I asked myself before making sure that she wouldn't be able to see my outfit for tomorrow.

"Marco? You there? I … I want to talk to you."

I rolled my eyes as I walked over to the door;. I was still a little angry at Star, but if I didn't answer her then she would wait there for hours until I did. "What do you want?" I asked as I opened the door.

She stared at me for a moment with those sad eyes of hers waiting for me to cave. I had gotten wise to the act a very long time ago but most days I would still cave and pull her into a hug; today however, was not most days. "I'm not falling for it Star." She continued to look at me with her face full of regret and sorrow. "Did you want something or not?" I asked as I tried to hold onto my composure.

"Look, I'm sorry." She pleaded. "I'm the princess of Mewni I-"

"Have to attend every royal event that you are invited to, no matter how boring it is or how much you don't want to go. You really wish you could bring me, but it's invitation only and we've had this conversation before." I finished. "And I'm really tired of it."

She looked a little shocked at first but quickly recovered. "But it's the truth, I don't have any say-"

"Do you take me for a fool?" I asked. "You're not just the princess of Mewni, you're Star Butterfly, the most amazing, and courageous girl I've ever known. No one could force you to give up your Friday, nearly every week for nine months, to go to something boring." I began to shake my head. "I know you better than that."

Star pursed her lips together and tensed up for a moment before releasing it with a sigh. "FINE, yes, I have had a good time at most of these royal events AND," She paused to make sure I was paying attention, "my mother sees it as me being responsible so she doesn't bother me nearly as much about being a proper princess, it's a win win." She paused for a moment. "Look, it's just one day a week at the absolute most, it's not the worst thing in the world."

If I wasn't convinced before, I was now. "You just don't want me around, do you?"

"That's not it at all!" She exclaimed. "I love spending time with you Marco! I really do but you simply can't come." There was a small pause as she looked down and took a breath. "But … that's not until tomorrow." She reached down and grabbed my wrist. "Now come on, I know a dimension that makes the best ramin you've ever tasted."

She began dragging me as I sighed; I wasn't in the mood for this right now and I still had to get hair dye before the store closed. "I think I'll pass." I clenched my fist and pulled myself free from Star's grasp. "I have some other stuff I have to take care of." I said as I walked away leaving Star with a look of disbelief and shock.

* * *

(Star's POV)

I watched almost helplessly as Marco walked away leaving me alone as I tried to grasp what had just happened. I knew Marco was upset but this was way more upset than usual, not to mention that he managed to pull himself free of my grasp. "How … how did he do that?" I asked. I stared at my empty hand in confusion. Sure he had turned down going on an adventure with me once or twice before but that was always because he had something else that needed to be done; not to mention that he's never been able to get out of my grasp. "That's … how … why …" I shook my head and turned away. "You know what? Fine, I'll go by myself." I marched back to my room and swiped my dimensional scissors off my desk. Just as I was about to cut open a portal, I stopped and looked back, feeling a sense of guilt. "I hope this blows over soon."

* * *

 **And now to watch as you all wait another week before I get my next chapter out. Oh, and if you haven't already, you should check out my latest compilation of every oneshot fic I've ever written for SVTFOE called 'the ins and outs of the Axis.'**

 **Have a nice day!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I would just like to take a moment to smile at yesterday's episode, we all knew it was coming and it actually happened! And speaking of episodes, I have noticed that there are one or two details that require me to point something out, this story was originally written before bon bon so there are a few plot details that contradict the show, I tried to fix as many of them as I could, but there might still be a few that I didn't find, or didn't know how to fix. Now with that out of the way, let's get to the reviews.**

 **03: Well I can tell you, their coming.**

 **TheOneAndOnly1993: Oh, it's going to get really ugly, and to answer your question, Star had been lying about him getting invitations because she didn't want him to be there because she didn't want to risk starting a relationship with him yet because she thought that because they are so young, it might end badly.**

 **H. Mae: I'm starting to feel like a majority of my stories might have been solved a lot sooner if someone had simply talked to the other person about what they were afraid of or what they wanted. Then again, I do love splitting things.**

 **Guest Sorta: But he thinks he will loose her friendship a lot sooner if he does that, not to mention that he's more upset about the lack of time they spend together rather than the invitations.**

 **HiQ: I know right? Next week is going to drive me up the wall and not just because of my job.**

 **EVAunit42: Thanks, and you won't have to wait long, just another week before the next chapter is up.**

 **Disclaimer: Star vs. the Forces of Evil characters belong to Daron Nefcy.**

 **Beta read by Sabrina06**

* * *

(Star's POV)

(The next day)

I was sitting in front of my mirror, putting on the finishing touches before I left for the masquerade ball. I was wearing a light blue blouse with a long thin skirt that fell to my ankles and a collar that was just shy of covering my neck. I just needed to finish my hair and put on my mask, then I would be all set; the only problem was that my hair was taking forever. "Ugh, maybe I should just use my wand." I reached for my wand but paused remembering the last time I used magic on my face. "Then again … there is something to be gained by doing things without magic." I went back to doing my hair by hand. It took a bit longer than I expected but I managed to get it done with plenty of time to spare.

"Perfect." I said as I admired my handy work. I picked up the golden mask; it was small and simple, like in one of those old Earth movies. I wasn't sure if it would actually prevent anyone from recognizing who I was. "I guess it doesn't matter all that much, I mean it's not like there are many people who would know me otherwise." I said as I examined it.

As I looked at my desk, I caught a glimpse of the picture I had of Marco and myself and I began to feel a sense of regret. He wasn't totally wrong, although I didn't want him there it wasn't like I didn't want him to be there. The only problem was that this was starting to get out of hand and I was hurting Marco a lot which was putting some serious strain on our friendship. "Maybe I should talk to him." I said as I stuffed the mask into my bag and began making my way to his room.

Before I could reach his room however, I heard the doorbell ring meaning that my ride was here. "Of all the times." I said as I began walking downstairs. When I got to the bottom of the stares, I bid the Diazes a quick farewell before opening the front door to see one of my parents' servants. "Hello Sr. Grive." I greeted.

"Good day princess." He replied. "The carriage is waiting."

"Thank you Sr. Grive." I made my way to the carriage and stepped inside.

* * *

(Marco's POV)

I was sitting at my window watching Star leave via carriage while thinking about tonight. "And once again, she looks amazing." I told myself. I let out a sigh before waiting for her carriage to pass through the portal. "Well, time for me to get ready." I made my way over to my closet.

I grabbed my outfit and a small box of temporary hair dye and began making my way to the bathroom; but as I was about to open the door, I heard an all too familiar voice. "Going out?"

I let out a sigh and twisted the nob. "Yeah dad, I'm going to a masquerade party"

I pushed the door open, walked over to the mirror, and took off my shirt. "That's funny." my father began. "Because if memory serves, Star was going to something similar." He gave me an accusatory look. "You wouldn't happen to be going to the same one, would you?"

"That's the one." I replied as I opened the box of hair dye and began lathering it into my hair.

"Interesting." My father replied. "I thought you weren't invited to that event."

"Well, I was." I began as I washed the excess foam from my hair. "I've got my invitation and everything."

"Is that so?" He asked. "Does Star know about this?"

"Maybe if she bothered to check." I grabbed my outfit and looked it over one more time. "Maybe if she ever bothered to check, or even ask, then she would know that I was invited to nearly every single one of damn events that she claimed I wasn't invited to."

"Marco." My dad noted, a sense of concern in his voice. "What is this about?"

I shook my head as I threw my red shirt on and buttoned it up. "This is about going to one of those royal events that I'm invited to without Star finding out." I answered. "And to that effect, could you not mention this to her when she gets home?"

My father let out a heavy sigh. "So long as you get home before her."

"Great." I noted as I changed my pants. "If she were to find out … I actually don't want to know what would happen." I let out a sigh and threw on my black jacket. "Don't worry, I'm just going to scope the place out, hang around for a bit and maybe if I'm feeling confident enough I'll say 'Hi' to Star."

"If you can find her." My dad added.

I let out a laugh as I began to tie my tie. "It would take more than a mask for her to hide from me."

My father was silent for a while until he finally spoke, causing me to freeze. "So are you going to tell her?"

I stared at the mirror for a short time before tending my hair. "If a man can't work up the courage to tell a woman how he feels without a mask then he has no business telling her at all."

"I mean without the mask." I froze again.

It took me a moment but eventually, I shook my head. "What would that accomplish? She doesn't feel the same way."

"You won't know for sure until you try."

"I know she doesn't want me at any of those royal events, and I know she probably doesn't want me around anymore." I replied as I finished fixing my hair. I grabbed the mask and took a deep breath before putting it on and turning to my father. "So how do I look?"

He closed his eyes and shook his head. "Like a man who's about to do something he knows he's going to regret."

"Perfect." I replied. "I was worried that I wouldn't look the way I felt."

I walked out of the bathroom, passed my father and over to the door to my room. "If you're not sure about what you're about to do-"

"I'm sure." I interrupted as I opened the door. "And I will be fine."

I picked up my dimensional scissors as my dad gave me a concerned look. "Just … Just come back in one piece, okay?" he asked.

"It's not like there's going to be a fight or anything." I replied as I opened a portal.

"There are other ways to make you less than whole mi hijo."

* * *

 **And so ends another chapter, and so begins another wait for the next one. One week, should be up just after 'Just friends' airs and I'll tell you, I am both nervous and excited for it. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm working on both my epilogue for 'nothing comes easy' and thinking up my next story (I so hope they don't binge season 3. I need hiatuses to work on my stories).**

 **Have a nice day!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I don't care enough to make a morning note, I've seen the new episode and I've been Starbroken. Needless to say, I'm glad this was finished a long time ago otherwise I would not be able to update for some time. Now let's see if I can get to the reviews.**

 **Guest Sorta: Thank you, I will try.**

 **TheOneAndOnly1993: It is going to be a long story, not as long as my last one but still long, not to mention it's pace will pick up for a bit.**

 **H. Mae: Thank you, and yeah, the way this is going, things will get much worse before they get better, both with the fic and with the real show.**

 **Sir Starcoshipper: In order, I remember you, I also want to see that happen by someone, sorry, Marcus isn't going to be in this one and Stella was a onetime deal, and his name was Lannister.**

 **Seeker of the Stars: Thank you, I'm glad you find it so interesting.**

 **erick2016: Glad to have you onboard friend, and thank you. Sadly, Marcus won't be appearing in this and Stella was just for that story, maybe in my next fic I will use Marcus again but for now, only Star, Marco, and various butting of heads.**

 **HiQ: I like to imagine tried to help his son as much as he can but sadly, we don't get enough of that in the show. I'm not sure if you're talking about my fic or the actual show in the next section but that's what makes it amazing.**

 **MANIFISTO: As a person who writes fanfictions, I can't get payed for what I do so your reviews are what little I get out of writing, aside from the joy of doing it. So yes, I am fine with three word reviews.**

 **Disclaimer: Star vs. the Forces of Evil characters belong to Daron Nefcy.**

 **Beta read by Sabrina06**

* * *

(Marco's POV)

I looked up, in awe at the palace where the ball was being held; it was one of the largest structures I've ever seen. It might even be as big as Echo Creek itself. "That is one big palace." I stated as I stared up at it.

I began making my way over to the entrance where a number or other guests were already standing, waiting to get in. "What is going on?"

"They simply need to check each of the attendees to make sure that they have an official mask and not a forgery." A deep voice explained from behind me. I turned around to see a large scaled humanoid with what I could only describe as a fish for a head. In addition to his mask, he was wearing a long ornate outfit with an orange and white striped pattern that matched his scales. "A lot of people want to get into these events without being invited, quite frankly it makes me sick."

"One shouldn't attend something if they aren't invited."

"Words of a wise man." The fish man replied.

"Yeah." I said with a nod. "So … this is the line for those who aren't of royal statues then?"

The fish man let out a small laugh. "Royal only means a king, queen, prince, or princess. A non-royal can be anything from an advisor, a servant, a friend and even some people the twin daughters are friends with."

"That's surprising."

Before long, the crowd began moving and I got closer to the entrance. When I got there, a monitor took a look at my mask for a moment before letting me through. "All right, you're good to go." He said before letting me through.

"All right, let's see what these things are about."

* * *

(Star's POV)

I had made my way through the ballroom and although I was enjoying myself, I still felt a twinge of guilt for abandoning Marco. My feelings however were irrelevant, the ball was just getting started and I had to put them aside if I wanted to enjoy myself. "I can do this." I told myself. "I just need to find someone to dance with."

"You say something?" I heard a high pitched voice ask.

I turned around to find a boy in a completely black suit and short blond hair offering what appeared to be a sickly hand. "How about you dance with me?"

I began to back up and raise my hands in defense. "Um … no thanks, I'll pass."

"Oh but I insist." He said as he reached for my hair.

"No!" I exclaimed as I swatted his hand away. "How about that?"

"Oh come now."

* * *

(Marco's POV)

I was walking around the ballroom admiring the ornate decoration and the sophistication of the guests that surrounded me. "I know they are royal and all but seriously, this place is something else." I said as I walked around.

I continued to move through the attendees who were stagnant and moved around the areas where others were dancing; until a familiar voice caught my ear. "I said back off."

"Is that Star?" I asked as I followed the voice and sure enough, there she was, being harassed by some punk in a suit. _Don't do it._ My head yelled at me. _Star can more than handle a punk; she'll send him home in a body bag._

I turned away until more of the conversation caught my ear. "But someone like you should be with a man like me." The punk harassed.

My hands clenched into fists as I tried to take a breath to calm myself. _If you help then you might expose yourself and that can only end poorly. Star will think you came to rescue her and then she definitely won't want to be friends with you anymore._

"Or we could skip the dance and find a nice quiet room."

That was the last straw; I couldn't just stand back and let him say whatever he wanted, even if Star could handle it. _He had better hope Star stops him before I do._

* * *

(Star's POV)

The blond haired boy had gotten on my last nerve; I didn't want to make a seen but it looked like I had no other choice. I reached for my wand but before I could do anything someone tapped him on the shoulder. "Excuse me." Came a somewhat deep modulated voice with a mild Latino accent.

The blond haired boy turned around and I managed to catch sight of the man behind him and as I did, my heart almost skipped a beat; he had red hair and was wearing a thin black jacket with a red shirt along with thin black dress pants. His chocolate brown eyes were filled with a mixture of anger and concern as this red haired stranger confronted the boy who was harassing me. "Is your head working properly?" He asked.

"Huh?" The blond haired boy replied. "What do you mean? My head is working just fine."

"I do not think so." The red head replied. "This fine young lady clearly said 'no', yet you are still here."

"What's it to ya?"

"How about I try and help you fix your head?" Before the other boy could respond, the red haired boy landed a right hook on him causing him to spin around with the most ridiculous look before falling to the ground. "I don't think that fixed him."

I let out a small laugh, "No, but you fixed the problem I was having with him." I eased up and looked up at him. "I could have handled it but …" I froze as I locked eyes with him and my heart jumped into overdrive. "Um … thank you."

"N-no problem." He replied. "I apologize if I overstepped my boundaries, I just did not know if you needed assistance."

"It's fine." I replied. "It was a nice thought."

"Thank you, my lady." He replied. "But … I should take my leave." He turned and began to walk away but I followed after him.

"Wait a second!" I called out. "Please, I want to talk to you."

He slowly came to a stop and turned around. "I'm sorry, I just shouldn't-"

"Would you like to dance?" I interrupted.

We both stood there, in silence, as the music began to change. It was soft, yet somehow, sharp. It's hard to describe and I had only ever heard its kind once before on Earth. I believe it was called slow jazz or something like that. "I … suppose one dance couldn't hurt."

Before he could even finish another sentence I took hold of him and swept him away. He was quick to interlock his left hand with my right and joined me as we swayed to the music. I had lost control of my body but I didn't mind; for whatever it was that was controlling me seemed to be in control of my partner as well. We had only just met and already we were moving in perfect sync. With a quick spin, I found myself wondering who he was, and as we reunited I found myself even more mesmerized than before. The song slowly came to an end with its final beats but instead of separating, we drifted closer together and as the song played its final note, we stood there with my forehead resting on his chest. I didn't know if it was the music, his eyes, or our synchronicity; but I knew one thing was for sure, I was starting to fall for him.

* * *

 **I was tempted to leave the lyrics to the song 'just friends' here instead of a note but I just can't summon the motivation to do it. As a result, this is the ending note. See you tomorrow with another chapter of this or of something else even more heartbreaking.**

 **Have a nice day!**


	5. Chapter 5

**I bet some of you are surprised to see the next chapter of this story so soon, and I bet most of you are also surprised to see that it was posted so early, well, thing is, I have work early today so I had to get it out early, simple as that, as for updating it today, well, I plan to update one new chapter PER DAY, until the season finale airs. That means I won't be updating Monday but today, tomorrow, and the day after, I figured that with all the feels going around we could all use some good angst … you can't see me laughing right now but trust me, I know the irony here. Now how about we get to those reviews?**

 **Sir Starcoshipper: You will see soon enough.**

 **Guest Sorta: BELAY THAT ORDER! The Starco will liftoff when … and if … it's ready.**

 **Author Smimph: Well it does have some things in common with my other story so that might be why.**

 **HiQ: Thank you. It was truly heart wrenching but Monday will be the death of us. Marco's not trying to be like that, it's just kinda happening.**

 **Disclaimer: Star vs. the Forces of Evil characters belong to Daron Nefcy.**

 **Beta read by Sabrina06**

* * *

(Marco's POV)

To say an alarm was going off in my head would be an understatement. I was staring at my best friend's love struck face, a face that I had only seen a few times before and only once towards me which meant I've made a very big mistake. _This was a horrible idea in retrospect._ I thought to myself. I was glad that she didn't recognize my voice with an accent but I knew that wouldn't fool her for much longer. I needed to move and get out of there before she found out who I was. "Ahem."

Stars eyes shot open before she separated from me. "Oh, sorry. I … Got lost in the moment."

"Yeah." I replied continuing to disguise my voice. "Slow Jazz does that to people."

"Yeah." Star replied as she looked away with that adorable smile of hers. "I guess it does."

The back of my neck began to feel cold as her attention turned back to me. "So … You're a very good dancer."

"Thank you but … I am nothing special … when it comes to dancing." I looked to the side in the hopes of hiding any hint of concern in my eyes. "I was merely following your lead."

"My lead?"

"Of course." I reached up and brushed a stray hair out of her face. "You were simply majestic and I couldn't-" My hand tensed as my mind screamed at me. _You idiot! Stop flirting and get out of here!_ I grabbed my hand and pulled it away. "My apologies, I … I should not have done that without permission."

"What, my hair?" She asked as she brushed the side of her head. "It's not that big a deal, I'm not upset."

She took my hand in hers and I could feel my heart begin to race again. "I'm not the kind of princess that just rolls over and lets people do what they want."

"Apparently." I paused. "But you are a princess?"

She nodded. "Well, I do have royal parents and I'm going to become queen eventually, but I'm not one of those rubber stamp princesses."

"Clearly. I can tell that's there is still so much more to you." As her eyes lit up I began to feel a sense of guilt and regret. _This is wrong._ I thought to myself. _Everything I'm doing here is wrong_ "I'm sorry." I interrupted as I began to step back. "I need to use the rest room." Star held her hand out in an attempt to stop me but it was to no avail.

After some searching, I managed to find the bathroom and I quickly made my way inside. It wasn't like the bathrooms on Earth, for starters there were no stalls and only one … chamber; but it was deserted enough so I leaned against the door and grasped my chest. "What the ever-loving heck am I doing?!" I exclaimed. "Star is my best friend, why am I trying to flirt with her?"

After a few breaths I closed my eyes as my heart rate slowed. "Because you love her Marco." I answered.

"No I don't!" I replied.

"Who are you trying to lie to?" I asked myself. "You've locked yourself in a bathroom and are talking to yourself, I don't think now is the time for secrets."

I took a deep breath and nodded. "Fine fine, yes, I love Star but she's my best friend and I should be happy with that."

"But content?" I asked again. "Happy is all well and good, but are you content with not knowing if you can be more than just friends? Do you want to live your life without at least trying?"

I shook my head. "No … I can't do this, not when she doesn't know who I am, it's wrong, even if she does have feelings for me and I have feelings for her." I closed my eyes and paused. "If she knew … she wouldn't feel that way, that's why she leaves me behind." The sides of my lips turned upwards but joy was not the emotion I was currently feeling. "I think I get it, she comes to these things to try her hand at romance, that's why she leaves me behind, and she's already made up her mind that I'm not someone she wants to be romantically involved with."

I grasped my heart as it began to sting, my feelings for Star were turning on me; leaving pain where warmth once was. "Maybe I should leave."

* * *

(Star's POV)

I was standing outside the bathroom waiting for the masked red head to emerge, I needed to talk to him again and try to find out more about him. The door eventually began to open and out came my mystery man. He looked at me a little confused, and at a loss for a moment. "Hm?"

"I wanted to talk to you some more." I explained.

"I can't." He replied. "I … I need to get going."

"NO!" I exclaimed as I grabbed his arm. "I mean … I just met you and … I want to get to know you."

He reached up and taped his mask. "But we aren't allowed to remove these."

"Well … um." An idea popped into my head. "I have an idea, how about we meet up tomorrow?" " He looked at me with a hint of confusion. "I mean it seems like a waste, we just met and you seem like a nice person and I want to get to know you."

"Where?" He asked.

"There's a dimension called Earth, it's rather distant from other dimensions but it's a great place. I know of this park in a place called Echo Creek. It will be a great place for us to meet up and really get to know each other."

"But that's just it, isn't it?" He asked. "How do you know you can trust me?"

I giggled. "Well if you're not trust worthy then I could just blast you back to your own dimension."

He stared at me with wide eyes, as though marveled by my statement. "Well that's … a statement."

"Don't think about that then." I said as I placed my hands on his shoulders. "Just … promise you will meet me there."

There was a pause before he answered. "I … will try."

"Yay!" I exclaimed as I jumped into the air. "I mean … I look forward to talking with you."

"The feeling is mutual, my princess." He replied with a smile. "Now if you'll excuse me." He was about to rush off but he stopped for a moment. "Charro."

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"It's what you can call me, Charro."

"Okay Charro." He turned around and walked towards the exit like he was in a rush or something; but I didn't really care. "He had referred to me as his princess; we're practically already an item."

* * *

(Marco's POV)

As soon as I got outside I pulled out my dimensional scissors and cut a portal back to Earth. "What the track was I thinking?" I asked myself as I stepped through the portal and into my bathroom. "Now she's hitting on me and I have to do 'something' about meeting with her this Sunday; and why was I flirting with her again?"

I threw my dimensional scissors on the counter and looked at myself in the mirror. "I don't even know who I am anymore."

"Why you're the boy Star's in love with." My reflection replied causing me to recoil in shock.

I quickly shook my head and my reflection returned to normal. "I'm losing it." I said as I removed the mask. "I need to change back to normal."

I threw the mask on the counter right next to my dimensional scissors before taking off my outfit and stepping into the shower and turning the knob. The cold water quickly washed over me and down my face washing away the red and almost any trace that I had gone to the ball, yet I could still feel something remained. I picked up the soap and began to scrub, in an attempt to scrub away anything that was left; but I could still feel it, there was something else that I brought home and it wasn't going away. "Damn it."

* * *

 **Well, I'm off to work, wish me luck, I'm going to binge watch the entire SVTFOE series when I get home. See you tomorrow for another chapter!**

 **Have a nice day!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Another day, another update, I will be updating tomorrow as well so keep those eyes open. I also have my next fic already planned out for those of you who are interested however … it hinges on a few things that I worry about happening in the finale. Given, there's a lot of wiggle room but long story short, for my next fic, I'm counting on Star and Marco not becoming a couple, and neither of them getting captured or something happening that separates them. The first one doesn't worry me that much (but there's still room to worry) but the second one is really worrying me, but I suppose I could find a work around, now let's get to the reviews.**

 **03: He sure is, that's one of the reasons Star is infatuated with him so much right now.**

 **Guest Sorta: CLOSE THE DOCKING BAY DOORS! DON'T LET IT ESCAPE!**

 **Disclaimer: Star vs. the Forces of Evil characters belong to Daron Nefcy.**

 **Beta read by Sabrina06**

* * *

(Star's POV)

I was walking through the ballroom trying to enjoy the rest of the ball; but it quickly became apparent that I had already met the best and worst this ball had to offer in the first five minutes. "Well, I guess all there is to do now is to find the birthday girls." It wouldn't be too hard, knowing them they would find me if I didn't find them first.

"Well who do we have here?" I heard a familiar voice call confirming my theory.

"Depends on who said that." I said as I turned around to see a girl with long red hair, blue eyes, and in a yellow dress. "Emilia, was it?" I asked jokingly.

She folded her arms and gave me a pout. "I think you are confusing me for someone who looks a lot like me."

"Like the two of you would switch hair styles without everyone close to you hearing about it."

She began to circle me with a mischievous smile. "Yet you've been in a middle of nowhere dimension called Earth for who knows how long and would have not heard."

"I stay connected Emilia, you can't fool me." We continued to stare each other down until we broke into laughter and hugged.

"Man Star, it's been forever since I've seen you."

"Likewise Em, so where's your sister?"

Em placed her hands on her hips and looked to the side. "Still hunting for a boy if you can believe it."

"Oh I can believe it."

"STAR!" Another voice exclaimed causing me to turn around just in time for the person who it belonged to to throw their arms around me. "It's been too long Star."

"I missed you too Ashilia." I replied. Ashilia and Emilia were identical twins, their only feature being the length of their hair. Emilia wore her hair long while Ashilia kept hers short. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, but I thought you were searching for a prince or something."

"Prince, knight, servant, or just someone cute, but I'm taking a break to say 'hi' to a friend." She let go and stared at me with glee. "So I hear that you're doing hard time in a dimension called Earth."

"I wouldn't say I'm doing hard time, I mean it was kinda a choice between Earth and St.O's but I like Earth."

"Ah yes, St.O's" Emilia began. "Where they strip away your individuality and all sense of purpose."

"Glad we don't have to worry about that." Ashilia added.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes only those who will take the throne have to worry about that."

Both Ashilia and Emilia gave me an annoyed stare before Emilia replied. "Oh yes, it's so nice we don't have to worry about having to spend the rest of our lives as a proper queen and get to do whatever we want." She smiled at Ashilia who smiled back.

"You mean like planting a light sensitive rainbow bomb in the castle's white linen laundry?"

I stared at them in awe. "You didn't." Their only response was a smile of pride. "Oh my Mewni, you two are unbelievable! What did your parents do when they found out?"

"We were grounded for all of last week." Emilia answered.

"Older sister didn't like that all her servants had to wear rainbow garments but mom thought it was nice."

"Marco says that's called tie-dye."

Both of them smiled as Emilia began to talk. "Yeah, we've heard a lot about him, haven't we sis?"

"Yeah I've heard he's really cute." Ashilia rushed behind me and began looking around excitedly. "So where is he? Did he have to use the bathroom or-" she rushed to the other side of me. "Is he at one of the tables?" She froze and turned around as a look of terror formed on her face. "You two aren't dating yet, are you?"

"What?" I asked incredulously. "No, we're not dating and Marco's not even here."

Both of them looked at me surprised. "Why not?" They both asked.

"Um, he wasn't invited?" I replied.

Both of them looked at each other with a look of confusion. "I thought you were in charge of inviting them?" Ashilia asked.

"I was." Emilia replied. "And I did, I sent out both invitations at the same time, I'm sure of it."

A cold sensation overtook me as I began to fear I had made a mistake. "Please tell me that this is another prank."

"Please Star." Ashilia began.

"We have standards." Emilia finished.

I stood in silence for a moment before I slowly began to shake my head. "No, no, I told Marco specifically that he wasn't invited. I told him that there was nothing I could do about it, so please don't tell me that you sent an invitation straight to him."

"Why would you tell him that?" Emilia asked.

"Yeah, no one would invite you and not send an invitation to Marco." Ashilia continued.

"Yeah, that's what one would do if they didn't want you to come, but had to invite you because your parents know each other." Emilia finished.

I placed my hand on my forehead as I realized the depths of my error. "Oh no, oh no, Marco's going to kill me." I paused for a moment as I realized an important detail. "Wait a second, Marco would have told me if he had received an invitation, right?"

There was an awkward silence among the three of us. "Um … Possibly?" Emilia replied.

"Wait, why didn't you want Marco to come?" Ashilia asked.

I let out a sigh. "I … I just have my reasons, okay?"

"Well if you don't want him anywhere near you, does that mean I can have him?" Ashilia asked.

"NO WAY!" I exclaimed. "I have dibs on him so you can't have him." I quickly covered my mouth but it was now too late, both Ash and Em were smiling deviously at my latest outburst.

"Ah, so that's it then." Emilia noted.

"Wait, then why keep him away?" Ashilia asked.

"Because I'm not ready." I replied. "He's so … responsible and perfect and not someone to date for two days then break up with." I shot Ashilia a knowing stare. "That being said, I can't just tell him to wait. That wouldn't be right; so I have to just keep my distance during times that might cause the truth to slip out."

Ash and Em shared a knowing look then laughed. "How about we drop the boy talk for now." Ashilia noted.

"Yeah, we haven't seen you in forever, fill us in on what's new." Emilia finished.

* * *

 **And there you have it, now I would like to make on note here about the twin princesses here, although I did say Marcus would NOT be appearing in this and Stella would most likely never be appearing in anything outside of 'Nothing Comes Easy' these two princesses, Ash and Em, are based off two of my other OC's Ashley, and Emily. I only say this because I accidentally mixed up a couple of their traits and don't want people getting confused when I eventually find a fandom to use them in and they are slightly different from when you first saw them. That is all.**

 **Have a nice day!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Well look who has egg on their face now, not only did I not post this earlier, I completely overlooked a little error that I had made when I first wrote this, let me explain; when this story was first written, it was before I knew that Star's … makeup thing … functioned as a phone so I had her using Marco's for a majority of the time. Naturally, I had to work around a … obvious problem that Marco would face with that but I did, then not a week after that, it was revealed that Star had her own working phone and I was filled with a sense of ease and annoyance. I just had to fix a few things but it turns out, I didn't get to everything and had to make a lot of changed to a few chapters that I overlooked which brings me to a very important point, if anyone sees an instance of Star using Marco's phone, can you point it out to me so that I can fix it? I hope I can catch all of them but if I miss one I would like to know, I put a lot of effort into this story and I want it looking its best. Now to the reviews.**

 **Guest Sorta: Well, you can't tie me up, I'm immune to being tied.**

 **TheOneAndOnly1993: Uh … both.**

 **EVAunit42: Thank you E, I try my best. I really like Ash and Em but I can never find a place for them, thing is, they have history with most of the other orphans so it would be a shame to put them into one place.**

 **HiQ: Oh, Star has yet to truly realize that she f #$ed up just yet. And I think it's more of a triangle unless Star also had an alter ego. Also, for future reviews, could you please refrain from dropping curse words? I would like to keep the review section as clean as possible. I'm not upset just, want to give you a heads up.**

 **Disclaimer: Star vs. the Forces of Evil characters belong to Daron Nefcy.**

 **Beta read by Sabrina06**

* * *

(Marco's POV)

I was sitting on the couch in my living room, wearing my bathrobe, watching some random movie. I didn't want to talk to Star when she got home, but I couldn't go to sleep without making sure she was okay. "See? You do care about her." I said to myself.

"Can we not do this now?" I asked. "Great, now I'm starting to sound like River." I shook my head and went back to watching the movie. "But what am I going to do about the mask? I can't hide it with my invitations; that would open up a whole new can of worms if Star found it … might be best to throw it away."

"And break Star's heart when she never sees her masked friend again?" I asked.

"Like he can wear the mask the next time he sees her."

"You shouldn't refer to yourself in the third person Marco, it makes you look strange."

"And talking to myself doesn't?"

I rolled my eyes. "The mask completes the disguise, you need it if you want to be with Star."

I sunk further into the couch. "I would be living a lie."

I nodded. "Star was going to leave me behind anyway … But I shouldn't." I shook my head. "I'll let her down the next time I see her as him; then I will destroy that mask." I took a moment as I tried to ignore the empty feeling growing inside me. "It will at least let her move on."

As I continued to sit there and watch the movie, I heard a tearing sound like someone cutting a portal with dimensional scissors from just outside the door. "Looks like she's back." I said to myself just before the door started to open.

Star walked in looking just as magnificent as she did when she left and with a big smile on her face. "I'm back." She greeted.

"Whoop de do." I said as I turned off the TV. "Mom and Dad are asleep and now that you're back I'm going to do the same." I got up and began making my way over to the stairs.

"Wait!" She called. "Don't … Don't you want to know how it went?"

"Can't say I care." I replied as I continued up the stairs. I had never really cared about how Star's parties went, I never really did; besides that was more of something my parents cared about.

"Marco!" She called again.

I stopped and turned around to see what she wanted to say, she ultimately didn't say anything however. She just stared at me for a while. "Do you want something?"

She took a breath and continued. "Marco … You would tell me … If you received an invitation to the ball, right?"

I thought to myself for a moment before answering, clearly she found out about my invitation from the princesses whose party it was but I doubted she knew that I actually attended. "Why would I?" I replied. "I mean I'm never invited so how could I get an invitation?"

The look on her face made it clear that she was picking up on what I was saying. "Oh … I see …" she looked to the side as I continued toward my room. "I met someone!" She exclaimed trying to keep a conversation with me. "He's really nice and a really great dancer."

"Is that so?" I asked feigning interest. "What else do you know about him?"

"Not much, but that's why I am meeting him tomorrow; so that I could talk to him and get to know him better."

I stared at her for a moment; had this been any other occasion, I would have expressed my objection. It's just that I was still upset about her lying about me not being invited. "Knock yourself out." I continued upstairs, walked into my room and threw myself my bed. "He's probably going to end up breaking your heart but if that's what you want then go right ahead." I closed my eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

(Star's POV)

I watched as Marco went upstairs and it felt like I had done something very wrong. "He got the invite." I said to myself. "That's why he was so angry all day yesterday and today, more so than usual." I sat on the couch and buried my face in my hands. "And he's going to be upset even longer than usual." I set my hands down and looked at the ground. "He couldn't just give me a straight answer though … I need to make sure he has it first … That's not going to be easy."

I got up and began making my way upstairs before stopping for a moment. "But if he had come … would I have danced with him instead of that masked man?" I shook my head and continued. "Who am I kidding, of course it would have been Marco."

I placed a hand over my heart as I looked at Marco's room. "That's why I'm keeping him away."

* * *

 **And now to practice my evil laugh for when I royally break all your hearts into little tiny pieces. Also to plan out my next fic which I still need to choose.**

 **Have a nice day!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Well this is as late as late gets, I mean last week I was working on Solarweek so that's why I didn't post anything last Friday but I know that today is totally not Friday and is in fact Saturday which is after Friday so this is not only late by not posting last week but late because it wasn't posted on time this week (at least it was posted early today). But in all seriousness, I have no excuse for my lateness other than my laziness. This entire story is finished on paper and just needs revisions and it was my choice to do that as each chapter was released instead of all at once. I know it makes this take longer but … well, it was my decision. Now let's get down to something more important … wait, I'm running out of time, I'll just save it for the after section.**

 **Guest Sorta: I will use dimensional door to teleport out of that.**

 **Nathanhobleygray: I like compliments as well and I am grateful that you left a review for me, I will have to check out that story but may I also recommend Ever After, I hear that it's great even though I still have to read it myself.**

 **MANIFISTO: It's only spam if it's not pertaining to the story, saying simple things like it was good or it was okay or … other things, are perfectly acceptable for reviews so long as it's about the story, authors note, my writing style, or anything else like that. So yes, you can say that it was good on each chapter.**

 **cookiejen101: Well it's 82 chapters long so it won't be done for quite some time ;)**

 **EVAunit42: Well I do think that Star and Marco know each other quite well at this point but after the finally of season two … I may start to rethink how I do them for future fics, also I wrote this story before the second issue of deep trouble (if you can believe I've been working on it for that long) so a lot of things may seem out of place now that I think about it.**

 **JJmmmmmlol: I believe that I shattered that with Nothing Comes Easy, correct? … I'm the first … that you've … really? I'm honored, thank you.**

 **HiQ: At least you realized it so thank you, I understand, I've had some hard times as well but I can't say that they have been as hard as someone else's, only that they were also hard. But season 4 has been confirmed already before season three even came out … I actually can't believe it. Marco's father gives advice is not a grand prediction, if you want a real example of witchcraft, read the story Ever After by my good friend ArtGirlLullaby.**

 **Guest: I will, I will.**

 **Disclaimer: Star vs. the Forces of Evil characters belong to Daron Nefcy.**

 **Beta read by Sabrina06**

* * *

(Star's POV)

(The next day)

I was in my room getting ready for my date with Charo; I figured that it would be formal so I opted to stick with my dress with the rainbow shirt. As I was putting on the finishing touches, my cellphone rang and I looked at the caller ID revealing that it was Jackie. "Hey Jackie." I greeted as I answered the phone.

"Hey Star." She replied. "I heard you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yeah." I answered. "You see, I need to ask a favor of you."

"What do you need?"

"Well, the thing is, I'm about to go on a blind date of sorts and I'm sure I can handle myself if the guy I'm going with turns out to be bad; but just to be on the safe side, could you just stay by your phone?"

"Well sure, but why not ask Marco?"

I looked to the side and began playing with the ends of my hair. "Marco and I … he's a little upset with me at the moment so I don't want to put this on him."

"What did you do?" She asked.

I began nervously twirling a strand of my hair. "I … may or may not have … lied to him about him not being invited to a ball that I attended."

"Did he want to go?"

"Yeah." I said as I looked down in shame. "It's kinda a thing now, every week or three I get invited to a royal event. I have to attend because reasons, so Marco wants to come as well, I tell him he's not invited, and Marco gets upset for a few days."

"But you said he was invited."

"I said he may have been invited." I replied. "And only to the most recent; so if he was invited then he's going to be more upset than usual so I don't want to ask this of him."

I heard Jackie let out a sigh. "All right, I'm at work right now but I'll keep my phone close."

"Thanks Jackie!" I hung up the phone and shoved it into my bag. "That's everything then." I ran downstairs and quickly waved goodbye to the Diazes before rushing out the door and down the street.

* * *

(Marco's POV)

I watched Star from my window as she ran as though she were late to a party. "She didn't even say what time." I said as I looked at the mask in my hands. "I shouldn't go … I never did say I would go and it's wrong for me to lead her on like this." I was about to put the mask away until I froze as if I lost control of my body.

"How are you leading her on?" I asked. "She doesn't know it's you and as far as she knows, it could be you." I walked back to my bed and sat down. "And you're not pretending to be in love with her either now are you?"

I closed my eyes and tilted my head down slightly. "Yeah, but she doesn't love me."

"Yes she does." I replied. "And how sad do you think she will be when she finds out that the guy she has a crush on isn't going to show up." I flinched. "Her sad face, her tears, you not comforting her because you're still upset with her."

"I'm not-" I stopped myself before I finished, despite everything I've done, I was still mad at Star. "I had every right to be there." I began. "It's not my fault she fell in love with me with that mask, I shouldn't be the one feeling bad." I stood up and put the mask on.

"But … I should not maintain this illusion any longer than I have to." I said in my Charro voice. "I must still turn her down … That is still the right thing to do."

I walked over to my closet and dug through it until I found my emergency black hoodie and a red t-shirt and threw them into a nearby duffle bag, along with my mask. I began to make my way down the hall and was about to go down the stairs until I was intercepted by my father. "Hello Marco, what might you be up to?"

"I'm headed out." I replied trying to be as vague as possible.

"Is that so?" He asked as he looked down and noticed the mask that was hanging slightly out of my bag. "With that mask?"

I stuffed the mask into the bag and zipped it up. "It's not … something I really want to do."

"So you don't want to go out with Star?" He asked causing me to avert my gaze.

"She's expecting … him, what would you have me do? Break her heart by him not showing up?"

"So you wish to lead her on? Is that it?"

"NO!" I exclaimed. "I care about her and I know I have to fix this, which is why I am going to … which is why I'm going to have the Charro tell her that he can't be with her."

"And then do you plan to keep this a secret for the rest of your life?"

"I only need to keep it a secret until she leaves." I grasped my shirt as I felt a slight twinge in my heart. "She's practically already moved on from me, it's only a matter of time before she leaves and I become part of her past."

"Ah." My father stated. "So that's what this is about." I looked at my old man with a hint of confusion. "Marco, you need to have more confidence in yourself." I looked away as he placed his hands on my shoulders. "I have only one last piece of advice for you; be honest with her, you don't want to live a life wondering what would have happened if you had just had the courage to tell her the truth."

I sighed and nodded. "Thanks dad … I … I'll tell her when this is over." I walked past him and made my way out the door. "Now I just need to find a place to change."

* * *

 **Wow this chapter was shorter than I thought, sorry about that but now onto what I was talking about earlier, I want to get my next story ready while putting this one up but … I'm … a little worried about something. You see … a lot of people say they want to see my OC's again and seeing as Marcus doesn't exist in this story, they won't be seeing his again for some time. This is why I wanted to ask if people were interested in seeing another one of my ten OC's in addition to Marcus (actually eleven if you count on of their little brothers) in my next fic (Stella is not one of the ten). Now with that out of the way, time to play some more breath of the wild. See you all in a few days!**

 **PS. I completely forgot, I know that not many people have noticed this here (over on** ** **Tumblr** a lot of people were congratulating me but I know not all of you do Tumblr) but I'm no longer Axis25, last Saturday, I became Axis26 and now I need a new end quote … hmm … OH! I've got it.**

 **Enjoy your day and please leave your tears in the collection bucket.**


	9. Chapter 9

**I have no excuse, this chapter is late and I am sorry, I was doing a lot of work on Starcoweek 3 (mostly on one prompt) so that's a reason but not an excuse, I said I would update this every Friday and not only did I not do that last Friday, but the Friday before that as well. I am truly sorry and will attempt to not do it again. Now how about I get to those reviews then back to my Starcoweek 3 prompt that will be up on Tumblr tomorrow?**

 **TheOneAndOnly1993: You should know me better than that, if they sit down and talk to each other then it will only end badly.**

 **Guest Sorta: Thank you.**

 **thewookie1: They say being in love makes you do crazy things.**

 **TheRealCartoonManiac: Yeah, they gonna be real good.**

 **xXPokeFictionXx: Feels? Oh no my friend, I will make you feel like you've never felt before!**

 **JJmmmmmlol: Well that's sad, that means you can't read my longest story, and other things as well but yeah.**

 **Nathan: It's written by my good friend, ArtGirlLullaby. You can find it if you search her name in that little search box at the top of the page (if you set it to writer that is) and I recommend it, like seriously, read it, it's amazing.**

 **Guest: And now I have made you wait longer.**

 **RobLebron: I can't tell you if you're right or wrong but I can tell you that you make a very interesting statement.**

 **Disclaimer: Star vs. the Forces of Evil characters belong to Daron Nefcy.**

 **Beta read by Sabrina06**

* * *

(Marco's POV)

I arrived the park after making a quick stop at the local gym to change; making me a little later than I thought I would be. It proved to be more difficult than I would have liked, to not draw attention to myself, but I tried to ignore the stares and press on. "You wear a mask and all of a sudden people think you're up to something." I was half hoping that Star had left seeing as I didn't show right away. Much to my dismay however, she was still there, waiting for her new crush to show. She was sitting on a bench facing away from me bouncing up and down slightly as she waited for my arrival. "Well, time to try and fix my mistake." I cleared my throat and began using my Charro voice.

"Let's get this done." I said before walking over to her. I felt an immense weight begin to overcome me with every step, almost as though part of me knew this was a bad idea; but I powered through it and moved on. As I got close I took one final breath and readied myself for whatever was to come. "Excuse me."

Star quickly turned around and smiled brightly as she caught sight of me. "You came." She whispered. "And you're still wearing the mask?"

"Am I?" I asked. "I am still the same person you met the other night, am I not?"

She looked to the side quizzically for a moment. "Well, I guess, but why would you still wear it?"

I let out a small laugh. "I guess you'll have to wait and see."

She stood up with her hands behind her back and gave me a coy smile. "All right then, let's go for a walk and get to know each other some more."

"If you insist." We began taking a walk through the park with Star taking long slow strides while taking a curious look at me every few steps.

"So tell me a little more about yourself then." She asked. "Judging on how you leveled that guy at the ball I take it you know how to fight."

I let out a sigh. "I would rather not, given the choice, but that boy just … pushed it too far." I shook my head. "I should not have been so violent, in truth, I don't enjoy fighting all that much."

"Is that so?" She asked a little disappointed.

"That's not to say I haven't been in my fair share of scraps." I finished. "A lot of people need to be taught a lesson and I'm not afraid to teach them their lessons many times over."

"Wow." She said as her face lit up slightly. "Sounds to me like you like to fight a little more than you're letting on."

"Perhaps, but enough about me, what about you? Why not tell me a little about yourself?"

"Where do I start?" She began. "Well I'm a princess from another dimension who loves to fight monsters and do whatever I want."

"Sounds like you're quite the free spirit." I replied. "I bet you drive all your friends crazy."

"Yeah." She said not sounding too confident. "Around the bend and back."

I let out a laugh before remembering what I was supposed to do. "No, no, I shouldn't …" I turned to look at her. "I'm sorry but I shouldn't have-" I stopped as soon as I noticed the sad look on her face. "Is something the matter?"

"Wha? Oh sorry, it's … I may have … made a mistake recently that I'm really worried about."

"What might that be?"

She let out a sigh. "Well, when you mentioned driving my friends crazy I remembered one of my friends who … I used to hang out with a lot."

"Used to?" I asked beginning to feel a bit worried. "Did something happen?"

"Kinda … you see." She looked down and began to shuffle her feet as she walked. "When I get invited to a royal event or ball, he gets upset that he isn't invited. We argue, I try and explain that I don't have much of a say in it or something to that effect; but he still gets angry. I go to the event, he stays home, and he doesn't talk to me for the next few days."

It was all too obvious that she was talking about me and I knew that this was something that I shouldn't be listening too. _Stop her Marco._ I thought to myself. _Getting information from her this way is wrong, you need to stop._ "Is that so?" I asked as if something else was in control of my body. "Couldn't you just get him an invitation as well or check to see if he was invited? I mean I get invited to royal events and I'm hardly important."

"Maybe." She replied. "I mean I've never really asked anyone if I could bring him along or tried to get him invited as well."

 _STOP IT MARCO!_ my mind hollered. "And why is that?"

"Because I don't want him there with me!" She exclaimed as she threw her hands up in anger.

I could feel my heart tear as Star's words echoed in my head, repeated over and over again silencing the opposition in my head. My body however didn't stop, and proceeded to ask something that I would rather not know the answer to. "Do you not want to be friends with him or something?"

She looked down and shrugged as the words slowly emerged from her mouth. "Not really."

I felt as if something had just punched a hole straight through my chest, not just my heart but everything that was near it went numb as I began to lose track of my surroundings.

* * *

(Star's POV)

I froze as I realized what the words I had spoken sounded like. "NO, NO! THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!" I exclaimed. "What I meant was … I just want some time away from him is all, that's why I tell him he's not invited." I looked at him and tried my hardest to work up a convincing smile. "Thing is … at yesterday's masquerade ball, I talked to a few friends of mine and it turns out that they may have sent him an invitation. Now I have to find a way to make it up to him." I paused and began thinking to myself. "That is, if he was invited in the first place." I shook my head and mentally cursed myself for going on and on about Marco. "What am I saying? You don't want to listen to me ramble on about one of my friends."

"I don't mind." He replied. "It helps me guess who you are."

"Hm?" I mentally slapped myself at forgetting something so basic. "Oh, that's right; I still haven't told you my name." We stopped walking so that I could properly introduce myself. "My name is Star Butterfly."

"The princess of Mewni?" He asked shocked.

"The one and only." I have him a smile then continued. "And you said your name was Charro?"

"That is what you may call me, yes." He let out a chuckle. "Star Butterfly, I should have known, not many princesses are as courageous and adventurous as you."

"Thank you." I replied. "Now what about you?" I asked.

"Me?" He questioned. "I … I'm nothing special, especially compared to someone like you."

"You were at that ball."

"True." He began. "But that was just because I have an important friend, believe me, I am a nobody."

"I don't believe that." I replied as I placed a hand on his shoulder.

He gave an innocent smile as he turned to look at me. "Thank you your majesty, you are too kind."

"It was no problem." I replied. I locked eyes with him and almost got lost in them for a moment. I did however, notice something odd, these weren't the same eyes I saw yesterday; sure they were his but it looked almost as if someone else was looking through them. _It's probably just my imagination._ I thought.

As we continued walking down the path I heard what almost sounded like a portal opening. "Was that-" I was cut off when I turned around and sure enough, there was a portal behind us; with monsters charging out, five to be precise.

The first monster was a minotaur-like creature with light blue skin, black pants with a skull belt, and an eye patch. To the right of him was what looked like a humanoid purple porcupine with heavy battle armor and face paint. On his far right was what appeared to be a werewolf with glowing red eyes and a crazed smile; wearing nothing except a loincloth and a whole bunch of fur. To the minotaur's immediate left was a short bird-like creature with a gray tunic and long dark blond hair; and on the far left was what appeared to be a very large rat. "Well well well, if it isn't Star Butterfly." The minotaur chuckled as he cracked his knuckles. "We're going to get a lot of corn if we bring you in."

"Corn?" I asked as I tilted my head to the side.

"Enough talk!" The werewolf howled. "I'm hungry for meet and corn!"

The five of them began charging and I took my battle stance, ready for the oncoming fight. The minotaur was the fastest and as soon as he got near, I leapt into the air and landed on his back and stayed just long enough to blast him forward and for me to land behind all the monsters. I quickly turned to the next closest, which was the werewolf who had already turned around and was charging; I blasted him in the chest only to find it had no effect. Thinking quickly, I blasted his feet out from under him, which worked much better and caused him to topple over and land right in front of me. "Not so tough now, are ya?" the sound of the charging bird creature caused me to turn my head then jump onto the werewolf and into the air and point my wand at the monster. "Ballistic Barbecu Blast!" I screamed and a stream of hamburgers, hot dogs, and stakes erupted from my wand and sent the bird flying into a nearby bench. "Had enough?" I asked only to remember something important. "Charro!" I exclaimed as I turned to him only to find that he had already dealt with the rat and was staring down the charging porcupine. As soon as the porcupine was directly on top of him, he sidestepped it and placed his palm on its back before pushing it, adding to its momentum and causing it to topple into a nearby trashcan. "Woah." I whispered.

A moment later the minotaur began charging him from another direction. Charro quickly grabbed the minotaur by the neck and stomach and, like before, used its own momentum to send it flying until it got it's horns lodged into the ground. "Now why don't you stand there and think about what you did." Charro mocked.

I couldn't help but laugh at Charro's joke but my laughter was quickly cut short as something tackled me to the ground and placed a foot on my left arm forcing my wand to go flying from my hand. "What the-" I turned my head slightly and what I saw caused me to panic; the werewolf was on top of me and was about to stab its claws into my chest. I didn't know what to do so I closed my eyes and prayed. _Marco please save me_ ' After one quick sharp sound, I noticed that I wasn't run through and opened my eyes to find Charro between the werewolf and myself. I quickly assumed the worst but upon closer observation, I noticed that Charro had pushed the werewolf's claws out of the way and they were now embedded in the ground.

"Are you okay princess?" He asked as he continued to hold the werewolf back.

It took me a moment to get my bearings but I quickly nodded before I slipped out from under them and picked up my wand to blast the werewolf off of Charro. "Let's end this." I jumped high into the air and twirled around before training my wand at the monsters below. "Turbo Soda Pop Tornado!"

A tornado of purple liquid quickly formed and swept up the monsters. "Wait a second, Charro!" I shouted as I feared that he had also been swept away as well. I quickly scanned the area to see him just below me in the eye of the storm along with the minotaur who had somehow avoided the tornado.

"Maybe if I bring you back I'll get some corn." The minotaur said as he began throwing punches at Charro. Charro dodged each one of them with grace and elegance as before. "But either way if you're out of the picture then Star will be all the more easily captured!"

Charro managed to catch one of the minotaur's horns leaving him awe struck. "You do not have the ability to erase me from this picture." He threw the minotaur into the soda, causing him to get swept up. "And even when I am erased, you shall never have the power to take her."

My heart picked up as the tornado died down and the monsters made a run for it. Once the tornado and the monsters were gone, I gently floated to the ground and looked at Charro in amazement. "You." I said slowly causing him to look at me. "Are." He began to look a bit worried as I walked towards him. "AMAZING!" He doubled back but I was quick to grab hold of him and pull him into a big hug. "Date me?"

"Say what?"

"I asked if you want to date me?" I asked. "I mean … I really like you, so you want to give it a try?"

He looked to the side and avoided eye contact. "But … But I'm just a nobody."

"You're not a nobody!" I exclaimed. "I know you're a great fighter, a great dancer, and you give great advice. You are the boy I want to go out with so that makes you someone to me." I moved my hands from his waist to his shoulders. "So how about it, you want to go out with me?"

He was silent for a moment until a small smile appeared on his face. "Nothing would make me happier."

"Yay!" I wrapped an arm around him and pulled him close as I pulled out my phone and pointed the camera towards us. "Say narwhals!"

* * *

 **And done, now I need to prep my next few chapters so that I can both catch up and get ready for this Friday.**

 **Enjoy your day and please leave your tears in the collection bucket.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Well this is about as late as late gets, I should have posted this chapter and one more by now but I just can't find my motivation to do … anything anymore. Anyway, I'm sorry and I will have the next chapter up as soon as possible, which might not be that soon sadly. Now let's hit up those reviews.**

 **Guest Sorta: That he does, he is going to need to think of something outside the box if he's to get out of this mess … or just be really lucky.**

 **Robertkellett: Well he is in trouble but you have to remember, Star is, at least, partially responsible by telling him that he can't come because he wasn't invited, the rest is Marco's fault though. Thank you, I'm always worried about action sequences, they're not my strong suit.**

 **TheOneAndOnly1993: Yes, he really has lost his mind.**

 **TheRealCartoonManiac: Thank you, that's basically what's going on in his mind right now.**

 **kylegriggs13: Well, this is at least partially her fault, she was the one who lied to him and, although he still should have told her the truth, she came onto him.**

 **Nathanhobleygray: O**

 **Guest: Then I think you may like this next part.**

 **RobLebron: Well, Marco's in trouble, that's for sure, and I will try and get the next chapter up as soon as I can.**

 **thewookie1: Lies?** **S** **orry I can't think of any.**

 **JJmmmmmlol: The hole deepens, doesn't it?**

 **Disclaimer: Star vs. the Forces of Evil characters belong to Daron Nefcy.**

 **Beta read by Sabrina06**

* * *

(Marco's POV)

By the time I regained my senses, I was standing in the gym shower holding the mask as the water washed over me once more. "What happened?" I asked as I rubbed my eyes. Memories began flooding back but it was strange, almost as though I dreamt the whole thing. Yet I knew the truth, it was no dream. "And I didn't even break it off with her." I said with a sigh.

"Well what did you expect?" I asked myself. "Star doesn't want to be with you anymore, and you just can't let go of that."

"I know!" I retorted. "I just … never thought she would actually get tired of me … m-maybe she didn't, I mean she did say that she didn't mean that."

"Words to cover up while in front of her crush." I told myself. "No one wants to sound mean in front of someone they admire." I paused and let my words sink in. "You knew it was only a matter of time before she left you."

"I know." I replied. "I just thought … I just didn't think it would come this soon."

"Well you had better get used to it because it's started."

I looked down and shook my head. "No … it started long ago, now it's coming to an end." I turned off the water and grabbed the towel that I hung just outside the shower and began to dry off. "I was a fool for not realizing it sooner."

As I finished drying off, I made my way out of the shower and over to my locker; I was thankful that the gym was empty at this time of the day, less people to notice me change and less people that I had to convince to cover for me. I might however need to explain this to the receptionist on my way out; something I wasn't looking forward to. "Better to leave them here, it's the one thing I don't want Star to find." I said before throwing my mask into my bag and the outfit into my locker.

I grabbed my nearly empty bag and took a deep breath as I began making my way out. I had nearly made it out of the building until a voice caused me to stop. "Hey Marco, can I ask you something?" The receptionist asked.

I slowly turned around and forced a smile. This was the absolute last thing I wanted to do, but I had to do it. "Yes Jackie … What is it?"

She gave a coy smile at the sight of my frustration; ever since we had our falling out, Jackie had developed a knack for getting under my skin. The one up side was that at least she wasn't as bad as Janna. "You know it's kinda funny, there was this guy who left this morning shortly after you came in. Funny thing is though, I opened today and I never saw him come in."

"Strange the way the world works." I said with a fake smile.

"And on top of that, I took a moment to look for you not to long ago but I couldn't find any trace of you until that same guy walked back in."

"Go figure." I replied again desperate to get out.

"Yeah but you two were wearing the same shoes."

I stopped short at her last statement. "Coincidence."

She shook her head with a smile. "Same tear along the bottom? I don't think so."

I looked down and sure enough, there was a tear on my right shoe that I hadn't noticed before. "Damn." I whispered. "Fine, what do you want?"

"Oh nothing much." She began as she began fiddling with her phone. "But … Interestingly enough … Star has a picture of herself and that guy that was here, and she is talking about him like he's her boyfriend."

"What?" I retorted.

"First real date with the new BF, can't wait to see him again." She read before showing me a selfie that Star took of us.

"Damn."

Jackie smiled and began fiddling with her phone again. "So are you two secretly dating? I though I was the only one with a flame on your heart." She paused for a moment. "Well … Janna as well but I have a better one."

"Neither of you have a flame on my heart." I retorted. "Especially you … I am long since over you Jackie."

"Is that so?" She picked up her phone and began typing. "Wait till the whole school finds out about your secret identity."

"NO!" I shouted. "Please Jackie, I'm sorry, that was rude of me and please don't tell anyone about this."

"Oh relax Diaz." She said as she put her phone down. "But you and Star are actually dating? I can't believe this is finally happening." She stopped for a moment as a look of surprise and confusion formed on her face. "Wait a second, why did she ask me to be her emergency contact?"

I let out a sigh and began nodding. "Because she doesn't know that it's me."

Jackie's face turned to one of shock as she placed her hand on her phone. "I have questions that need answering and soon."

"It was an accident!" I began. "Thing is, Star always tells me that I'm not invited to any royal events, but I am invited to every royal event so I just assume that she doesn't want me to attend. I got curious though, so when I was invited to a masquerade ball I took the opportunity. seeing I thought Star wouldn't recognize me, but my plan worked so well that she fell in love with me."

Jackie stared at me as I silently prayed that she didn't think I was lying. After a while though, she broke into laughter, causing me to feel a whole new kind of worried. "Seriously?" She asked. "If that is true then what did you think would happen by seeing her again?"

"I wanted to put a stop to it!" I replied. "I wanted to tell her that I didn't think we should get together but … I got distracted."

"But if you didn't want that, then why even agree to go out with her in the first place?"

"Because I didn't want to make her cry!" I retorted. "And my feelings for her are … complicated."

"Complicated?" She asked with a coy smile. "I think it's rather simple, you love her and hope that someday you'll be the king of Mewni."

"It has nothing to do with the position Jackie, I love Star because I-" I cut myself off as I realized what I was saying, but sadly it was already too late.

"So you do love her." Jackie said as her smile turned almost malicious.

"So what if I do?" I asked. "She doesn't love me!"

Jackie looked at her phone. "Looks to me like she likes you a lot."

"That's not me, I may pretend to be him but he's not me."

Jackie looked back at her phone before she put it down. "So then … What's your plan?"

"I don't know." I said as I turned around. "He's not real so he can't stay with Star forever, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do about it."

"Well you had better get on it then." She began. "Don't let this spiral out of control or you will regret it."

"A bit late for that." I said as I began walking out, until I remembered something important. "Oh, right, you're not going to tell anyone, are you?"

She smiled and shook her head. "Don't worry Marco, your secret is safe with me."

* * *

(Star's POV)

I had returned home after a wonderful day talking to my new boyfriend. "Ah Charro." I said as I walked through the front door. "I can't wait 'till we meet again." I waited for the sarcastic remark from Marco, or the nurturing remark from his parents but there was no response. After a quick look through the house, I discovered that it was empty and no one was home. "Well that's weird." I rubbed my hands together and smiled at this rare opportunity. "Looks like I get to search for that invitation."

I ran up to Marco's room and began my search in his closet, the only place I could think of where he would be able to hide it. "Red hoodie, old gym shirt … Box!" I knelt down and opened it to find nothing but his collection of past karate belts. "So it's not here … If he even has it."

I began looking around for other places he might have hidden it. "Under his bed!" I quickly dove underneath it but much to my dismay, it was completely barren. "Not even a dust bunny." I said as I slid out from under his bed. "Marco does keep a clean room … That should make this easier!"

I continued my search, throwing things about and around as I searched in vain for something he might not even have. As I searched the top of a bookcase, I began to get more frustrated and desperate. "I just need proof that he was invited then I can apologize for saying he wasn't, take him on a trip to make it up to him and let him know just how much he means to me." I stopped as I jumped down. "Well maybe I won't tell him exactly how I feel, but I will tell him he means more to me than Charro." I stopped my search as a thought hit me. "No … I'm not ready yet." I resumed my search by going through his desk. "He's always got my back, even without any magical powers, he's always there for me when I'm feeling down and knows just what to say to cheer me up." I stopped searching once more and let out a sigh. "He always tries to keep me from making stupid mistakes and doesn't say 'I told you so' when I do anyway." I let out another sigh. "That's not to mention his personal qualities." I reached into his desk drawer and began fiddling with things. "And here I am going through his personal belongings because of a mistake I may have made instead of telling him the truth."

I sat down on Marco's chair as I continued to fiddle with the things in his drawer. "How much longer should I keep him waiting … How much longer 'can' I keep him waiting?" I shook my head, feeling disappointed at what I had done. "I need to stop this." I used the drawer to support my weight as I made my way to my feet, but as I did, I noticed something was off about the bottom of it. "Well that's strange." I said as I pushed on the bottom of the drawer. It was caving slightly, something that it shouldn't do normally. "Let me see." I began searching until I found a little hole on the far side of the drawer. "Jackpot!" I lifted up the bottom and smiled. "A fake bottom Marco? What could you possibly be hiding?" The bottom came up and I quickly snatched the top piece of paper and looked it over confirming that it was the invitation. "I knew it!" I exclaimed. "Now I know for a fact that he … That he … Still stayed behind … Just because I wanted him to." I let out a sigh as I continued to look at the paper. "Now how to make this …" I stopped as my brain finally finished processing the image I saw when I grabbed this paper. "Up to him." I slowly turned back to look at the drawer confirming my fears. "There's more." I put the paper down and began going through the rest of them. "Invite … Invite … Invite." I flipped through them and sure enough, there was an invite to every event I've attended in the past nine months. "Marco's not upset because he's never invited, he's upset because he was invited … and he thinks I didn't want him there." I put the papers down and stared out the window. "I've made a horrible mistake."

* * *

 **Wow, that was something else, wasn't it? Now to get my shorts out and work on the next chapter a little. So until next time, see ya!**

 **Enjoy your day and please leave your tears in the collection bucket.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Okay, so there's a reason I keep updating these so late and it's because I want to work on my next story while posting this one and … well, you know me, I have trouble getting motivated and all. So I will try and update this and write my next one as fast as possible. Now how about we get to the reviews?**

 **Heavybond56: Ah, I was worried that no one would be able to.**

 **Guest Sorta: I think it will rip their souls into more than just half, it's already ripped one soul into more than just two pieces.**

 **TheRealCartoonManiac: I will try to update faster.**

 **JJmmmmmlol: *Holds out bucket* Woah, there, cry into this bucket please, I need your tears to survive.**

 **RobLebron: I don't think things are going to get better any time soon.**

 **Captin jar: Well … no spoilers.**

 **Dysfunctional-Cry: Yeah, these two are going through some hard times.**

 **ArtGirlLullaby: LULLABY! It's great to see you! Also, yeah, I remember you telling us that story before I posted this story but it was already written so … I'm sorry if it brings up old memories, if it's any consolation, I chose it because … well that's a little bit of a spoiler actually. And don't worry, it won't be resolved any time soon, and between you and me, Star won't be happy she did what she did.**

 **Silver Magic King: Why thank you my friend.**

 **Disclaimer: Star vs. the Forces of Evil characters belong to Daron Nefcy.**

 **Beta read by Sabrina06**

* * *

(Star's POV)

I wasted no time in putting everything back the way I found it, hoping that Marco wouldn't notice that I've been searching his room before I darted back into my room. "Okay, okay, this … this isn't as bad as it look." I said trying to keep myself from getting frantic. "It does explain a lot, Marco was upset that I was lying to him, not that he wasn't invited, that's a relief."

I began pacing back and forth in an attempt to calm myself. "Now, how to fix this? I can't simply take him on an adventure and make this up to him … I could say that I thought he needed an invitation and since he never said he had one-" I paused as I remembered something important. "I told him that I knew he was never sent an invitation … so that won't work."

I sat down hoping that it would help me think. "I was wrong about knowing that he got invitations, I mean I make mistakes like this all the time, it's believable so … I … my best friend." I fell backwards onto my bed and looked at the ceiling. "He's my best friend … making a mistake for this long would make him think I don't care about him anymore … especially if I'm looking for boyfriend, if only temporary."

I shot up with a smile. "That's it, I could just tell him I was looking for a boyfriend, he will understand and … and … he will …" I fell back onto my bed with a frown. "That will hurt my chances to be with him when the time comes." I covered my eyes with my forearm. "Especially since I've been keeping this from him for so long." I uncovered my eyes and went back to staring at the ceiling.

"I have to find an explanation as to why I'm bringing this up, I can't tell him I was looking through his stuff." I rolled over and buried my face in my pillow. "I may have caused irreversible damage to our friendship, and all because I couldn't tell him that I was in love with him." I rolled back over, took a deep breath and jumped to my feet with the biggest smile I could muster. "No, this isn't like me, I'm Star Butterfly; I can find a way to fix this, I just need to find it."

At that moment, my stomach growled and it finally hit me that I had skipped breakfast. "But first, lunch."

* * *

(Marco's POV)

As I walked home, a feeling of emptiness began to overtake me. "You know that this is useless." I told myself. "She doesn't love you, she loves the Charro."

"But the Charro isn't a real person." I replied. "He's just a part of me."

"Unless you let him become you." I stopped dead in my tracks as I continued explaining. "You can change, you've already played the part so well, why not become the part?"

"He's just a mask, just a fake."

"Is he?" I asked. "We all wear masks, but you must ask yourself, what is the real mask, the one that hides your face, or the one that is your face?"

I thought about it for a time before I started walking again. "I know who I am, and I'm not the Charro."

I looked down and sighed. "Not yet."

I eventually got home and made my way inside only to be greeted by the sight of Star sitting in the living room eating what appeared to be a sandwich. She didn't notice me at first, but as soon as I shut the door she snapped to attention. "Marco!" She exclaimed. "You … You're home."

"So what?" I asked. "Don't pretend to care or anything."

"Well that's not very nice." She replied looking a little sad. "You're my best friend, of course I care about you."

"From what I heard there's a new man in your life." I said as I walked to the staircase. "Jackie showed me the post."

She shot up and leered at me. "You know, just because he's my boyfriend doesn't mean he's more important to me than my best friend."

"So you say." I said as I began making my way upstairs.

I was halfway up the stairs when Star called after me. "Marco!" She began. "Look, there are very few people as important to me as you … And I can probably count them on one hand … what I'm trying to say is, whatever you might think, you will always matter to me."

Her words made me feel a little better but I knew the truth; she didn't want me as a friend anymore but didn't have it in her to say it to my face. "So you keep saying." I walked up stairs and into my room, making sure to close the door behind me.

"Why doesn't she let me go?" I asked as I sat at my desk. "Not that I'm complaining, but still." I opened my drawer where I kept my invitations but as I reached to the back, I noticed something off, I had kept a little piece of paper in the back between the fake bottom and the back of the drawer, mostly unnoticeable if you didn't know it was already there, but it was missing. "Well that's not right." I lifted the bottom and noticed that it was lying on top of the invitations. "Someone's been in this drawer." I said before picking up the piece of paper. "It was there this morning … and Janna would have blackmailed me by now if it was here … my dad already knows … that leaves … Star." I paused as it hit me. "Star's been through my room … Star's been through my drawer!"

I got up to march back downstairs to confront her but something stopped me. 'This means a lot more than you realize.' My mind told me. 'She said that you matter, that you are one of the most important people to her, that you matter to her more than her boyfriend after she found these!' I sat back down and began to let it sink in more. 'Don't you see Marco? She knows that she did something wrong and she's trying to make it right. She just doesn't know how and she needs your help.' I got up and waked over to my bed before throwing myself on it. 'Forgive her Marco, let her know how much she means to you: you can still keep your friendship with her!"

"No!" I replied. "You know this isn't true Marco, she wants to get rid of you and this should only prove it more." I rolled onto my side and grasped my head. "She completely disregarded your privacy, what kind of friend does that? She only wanted to see if she was right about your invitation."

'That's not true!' My mind hollered.

"Enough." I choked out as I managed to regain control of my mind and voice. "What's happening to me?"

* * *

 **Well that was a short chapter, I hope that you all enjoyed it but now I have writing to do and a night shift to prepare for, see you all later.**

 **Enjoy your day and please leave your tears in the collection bucket.**


	12. Chapter 12

**I know I'm late, again, I just have a procrastinating problem that is … hard … to deal with. Other than that, here is the next chapter of this story so I hope you enjoy. Now to the reviews.**

 **kylegriggs13: Well can you blame him? He think the girl he's in love with is in love with the person he's pretending to be.**

 **Guest Sorta: You know I forgot about those memes until you mentioned them.**

 **Dex Cipher: I can't really use those for nourishment but I can put them on the wall for decoration so thank you.**

 **JJmmmmmlol: Although the story is already written, and I can't spoil it, I can say that I like your idea.**

 **Readmenot: Well you're welcome, I aim to please. As for Star's actions, well, this is Star we're talking about.**

 **ArtGirlLullaby: Well I did do a bit of research on the topic of split personalities and I found nothing on temporary split personalities but then I remember a little thing called anxiety, but I'm not telling you which one it is. And yes, it's going to get worse.**

 **RobLebron: Well Star doesn't know what to do at this point, if she tells him then that could help her situation (not that she knows it will because she doesn't know Marco is aware of her invading her personal space) and Marco won't want to keep this up forever.**

 **TheRealCartoonManiac: I'm not sure what's happening to you but I know there's no point to living forever.**

 **Eddie: Well you'll get more, and here's a jaw breaker to hold you over.**

 **Disclaimer: Star vs. the Forces of Evil characters belong to Daron Nefcy.**

 **Beta read by Sabrina06**

* * *

(Marco's POV)

(Two days later)

It was now Monday morning and I had just barely managed to pull myself out of bed. "I hate Mondays." I had spent most of yesterday trying to gain control of my sanity and come up with a plan to deal with my current Star situation. Sadly though, I wasn't able to make much progress on either front. I finished putting my hoodie on before looking back down at my desk. I pulled out the drawer with my invitations, and mask, and lifted up the false bottom and picked up the Charro mask. "It's not safe to leave this here." I said before bringing it to my backpack. I was just about to put it in, but stopped for a moment and took a good look at it. "This is your fault you know." I told it. "If you could have just told Star 'no' then I wouldn't be in this mess." I continued to stare at it; almost thinking it would reply. "But just look at me, I'm talking to an inanimate object so what do I know."

I let out a sigh as I remembered what happened a few days ago. It was almost like someone else was in control of my body until I took the mask off, causing me to go back to normal. I was a little afraid, but curiosity ended up getting the better of me. I put the mask on and secured the string in the back. I didn't blank out like before, but something sure felt different. "What is this?" I asked in my Charro voice. "Wait, when did I-" I stopped myself before I could finish, I didn't know what was going on, but I still felt like I had control over my body. What's more, I felt a little at ease and I felt bad for being angry at Star. "I should … I should do something." I pulled out a piece of paper and an envelop and started writing. "Dear Princess Star."

* * *

(Star's POV)

I had just finished combing and blow drying my hair and I was just about ready for the school day. "I've really upset Marco this time … I need to find a way to make this up to him or I might end up damaging our friendship … or destroying it."

After finishing up in the bathroom, I skipped downstairs and into the dining room where a plate of pancakes sat waiting for us. "Mmm, pancakes." I grabbed myself a plate and began to dig in. As I continued to eat breakfast, Marco soon came down the stairs with his backpack in tow and a tired look on his face. "Good morning Marco!" I greeted. He merely glanced up at me before getting a plate of pancakes for himself. _He must still be mad at me._ I thought. I would still be mad at me too, considering how long I've been lying to him.

As we finished eating, we made our way outside and waited for the school bus to arrive. The ride to school was more or less uneventful as Marco still wouldn't talk to me. _He still doesn't know that I found his invitations._ I thought to myself. He should still be back to normal later today or tomorrow at the latest. I let out a small sigh as the bus arrived at the school and everyone disembarked. The walk to our lockers was awkward and quiet, I wanted so badly to say something to break the tension but thankfully, Janna's approach solved that problem for me.

"Well hello you two." Janna greeted looking as mischievous as ever.

"Hi Janna!" I replied. She followed right next to me as we began making our way to our lockers. Janna usually has some reason for talking to Marco or myself; but I was just glad I had someone to talk to.

"So, I hear that someone has a new boyfriend." She joked as she gently elbowed me. "So … Does this mean all bets are off?"

"What are you talking about?" Janna didn't reply, well, not verbally, but the way she was looking at Marco said it all. _Please tell me she's not doing what I think she's doing._ I thought to myself. "I'm afraid I don't follow."

Janna smirked before she swung to my other side, putting herself between Marco and me. She wrapped one of her arms around the back of his neck while drawing circles on his shirt with her finger. "Oh nothing." She cooed.

Marco didn't look the least bit amused by Janna's obvious advances and I just prayed that he wouldn't realize why Janna had made the comment she had made earlier. "I don't know what your game is Janna." Marco began as he removed both of her hands from his body. "But I'm going to say no."

"Awe, you're just playing hard to get." Janna cooed as she tried to get close to him again.

There was a short moment when Marco just stared at her with contempt. "No." He quickly took the next available turn leaving Janna and I alone.

Janna turned to look at me with a knowing smirk as I resisted the urge to hit her. "You're about as subtle as a train wreck, you know that Janna?"

She laughed at me and continued to poke fun. "I can't help it if you have, or had, a crush on your best friend." She intertwined her fingers around the back of her head and leaned back a little. "Nor can I help it if he's just so adorable and in need of a little corrupting from yours truly."

I could feel the blood rush to my face as I tried not to make a scene. "Janna, can you not do this?"

"Well, no I don't have to." She said as she tilted her head and looked away. "But, I thought that I would give you a heads up."

"No Janna, I already called dibs, remember?"

She dropped her hands and shook her head. "But that's not how it works Star, you got with someone else now so you can't hold dibs on him anymore, those are the rules."

"Marco's my best friend, that makes him an exception."

"Marco is your best friend meaning you get to call dibs on him at all!" Janna retorted. "Normally it's whoever knew him longest and you've known him for less time than anyone else in the school."

"I know him better than anyone else."

"Doesn't matter Star." She replied. "You got together with someone else and made it official on social media; now everyone has a shot at him."

"Oh, come on Janna!"

"Seriously?" She asked. "Star, you chose someone else." Janna's words sliced deep leaving me stunned. "You act like I'm telling you that you waited too long, which you did; but you have found another guy, got together with him, AND made it official. Don't forget this isn't the first time you dated someone else while you had dibs called on Marco."

I began to feel a little uneasy, Janna was right for the most part, but I still didn't want to risk loosing Marco in the end. "I … I just wasn't ready for him."

Janna let out a sigh and shook her head. "Well it doesn't matter now, everyone knows that Marco is fair game and they will swarm him like no tomorrow."

"Wait, really? Sure he's something else but this is still Marco were talking about."

"Everyone wants their knight in shining armor Star." She looked ahead and smiled mischievously. "Well, for one reason or another."

I tried to ignore Janna's comment as I continued to question her. "So when you say everyone-"

"I mean myself, Sabrina, Hope, Andrea, Chantelle, Chelsea, heck, even Jackie."

"But I thought he and Jackie broke up. And on top of that, not many people knew that I had feelings for him."

"Pfft, Jackie and Marco can still get back together, quite easily in fact." She smiled maliciously as she leaned closer. "As for the others, they don't have to know, they will see some go after him and like sharks to blood, they will charge from miles away."

I began to worry, Marco might have claimed that he was over Jackie but he had been into her for most of his life and it was likely that he might slip back. "But … Marco and I are a perfect pair."

"Then you should have made a move a long time ago." Janna explained. "But tell ya what, I'll hold onto him for you. When you are finally ready to actually try and take him, you'd better hope that I'm not planning on putting a ring on him myself." Janna smiled as she leaned back again. "Tell you what, I'll even break him in for you." I stopped dead in my tracks as Janna walked away with that innocent smile on her face. "Catch ya later Star."

I stood there for a moment and another moment just thinking about all that Janna had just told me. "But … I wanted to be the one to break him in."

* * *

 **You know, there's something interesting I've noticed, a lot more people are talking about what Star did wrong rather than what Marco is doing wrong, and I know that what Star is doing might be worse but I just find that interesting. Now I need to lie down before work so I'll talk to you all … at some point in the future.**

 **Enjoy your day and please leave your tears in the collection bucket.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hi there everyone, so I'm not sure if I will update on Mondays continuously or not but from the looks of it, I am right now. Back to the chapter, I think I may have found something that helps me with writing (finally) which means that I should be able to get some work on my next story as this one comes out. Now let's get to those reviews … all two of them.**

 **Heavybond56: This is me we're talking about, of course I won't make it easy on them.**

 **Advait2003: Messed up is what I do best, it's my way of preventing people from realizing that all my fics basically have the same dilemma happening in them … I mean … what? Also thank you, that means a lot to me.**

 **Disclaimer: Star vs. the Forces of Evil characters belong to Daron Nefcy.**

 **Beta read by Sabrina06**

* * *

(Marco's POV)

I was just grabbing the last of what I needed from my locker and Star still had yet to arrive. "Probably talking with Janna or someone." I took a moment to make sure that the hall was empty or at least people weren't looking at me before I pulled out the letter I had written earlier. "Here goes something." I made a crease in the middle and hung it on the vent of Star's locker. I was a little worried that she might recognize my handwriting but that wasn't something Star paid attention to, but my handwriting as Charro looked slightly different.

"Why do I feel like I'm making a huge mistake?" I asked myself as I turned back to my locker. I was about to close my locker and head to class when I saw Star turn a corner and run in my direction.

"MARCO!" She hollered. "I mean … Sorry about that, I just … Did I miss anything?"

"Not much." I replied as I shut my locker. "I think you have a letter though."

"A letter?" She asked. She noticed the white envelope hanging from her locker vent and slowly pulled it out and unfolded it. "It's from Charro!" She exclaimed with excitement.

"Well goodie goodie for you." I hoisted my backpack up and turned away.

"Don't you want to know what it says?"

I turned around slightly to look at her. "Why?"

"Because you're my best friend and you care deeply about what my boyfriend tells me?"

She didn't sound at all convincing, in fact she actually caused me to laugh. "Okay, okay, I'll listen."

"YAY!" She tore the envelope open and started reading it. "Dear Princess Star. I wanted to thank you for the time we spent together the other day, I dare say it was the best day I've had in a long time. From just being able to talk with you to fighting off those monsters together-"

"You guys got attacked!" I exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me?"

She looked up from her letter and looked at me like I had just said something stupid. "I thought you were mad at me."

"Mad or not you could have brought up a monster attack."

"Continuing." She said as she looked back to the letter. "I look forward to when we can be together again, and I shall count the seconds until then, my princess. Yours truly, Charro." Star looked up from the letter with a look of absolute bliss. "Oh Charro, I can't wait for us to be together again either."

I felt a twinge of jealousy, sure, I was Charro, but Star didn't know that, not to mention, Charro wasn't the person I really was. "How did he know where your locker was?"

"Who cares." She replied. "He's just so dreamy and mysterious that way."

"He's down right creepy if you ask me." I turned around to start walking to class, but before I could even take a step I was stopped as I found someone in front of me. "Janna?" I asked.

"Janna?" Star asked snapping out of her trance.

"Hey Marco." Janna greeted as she inched closer to me. "So I'm not sure if you know this, but the football team is throwing a party this Friday because … I actually don't care, but the whole school has been invited and I didn't want to show up alone so-" She got even closer to me and I was starting to get nervous, her eyes were closer to mine than our lips and it was almost like we both had stopped breathing. "Would you be willing to accompany me?"

"Woah, hold on here." Star said as she pushed us apart giving me some much needed breathing room. "Where does that leave me?"

"Um, with your boyfriend." Janna replied as she pushed Star out of the way. "So how about it Marco, you want to stop being called a safe kid and let that bad boy out?"

I felt a cold sensation overtake me, Janna had not only found the nerve but she managed to hit it with an orbital bombardment. Had I been a little younger, and wasn't secretly Star's boyfriend, I wouldn't have been able to say 'yes' fast enough. Thankfully though, I wasn't as young as I used to be;. I had grown out of wanting to be a bad boy; but if I said no then Janna would still find a way to get me to that party, even if I ended up not remembering anything about it after. "I will consider it Janna." The look on her face when I said that was priceless, her wide eyes and pale face was just something that I had never imagined and I wanted so badly to take a picture and savor it. "Now can I get to class?"

"Wha- oh, right." She moved aside and I walked past her triumphantly and Star soon followed.

"Wait a second!" Star called out as soon as Janna was out of earshot. "Are you actually thinking of going with Janna to that party?"

"Who knows?" I replied. "I mean you're probably going to be going to some ball, which you will say I'm not invited to, so I don't really have anything planed."

"I haven't been invited to anything yet Marco." She began. "And even if I was, I could turn down the invitation if I was already going somewhere else."

Because of course you don't have to go if you don't want to. I quickly shook the though from my head and sighed. "Well maybe I will and maybe I won't, what's it matter to you if I go to a party with Janna anyway?"

"Why?" She looked as if she didn't understand the question at first. "Well … You know why … She's … Well she's nice to hang out with, but I don't think she's good for you."

"Not good for me?" I exclaimed. "Star, since when do you have the right to decide who's good for me?"

"I didn't." She replied as she tilted her head down a little. "It's just … I know you don't like her like that … Or at all so … I … Am worried … that you might be rushing into this."

"Do you really think I'm the type of person who would rush into a relationship?" I asked as I placed my hands on my hips.

"Well … ever since you and Jackie broke up you've been … different … when it comes to having a relationship." She began. "And I'm worried that you might be rushing into this."

I rolled my eyes. "The pot shouldn't be calling the kettle black, Star."

"What does that mean?"

"It means you shouldn't be accusing me of rushing into a relationship when you are the queen of rushing into relationships."

"No, I'm the princess of Mewni." She boasted.

"Well excuse me, princess!" I turned around and started to walk away, but Star was quick to jump in front of me.

"Okay, you're right, I'm sorry." She pleaded.

"I'm sorry?" I asked as I looked at her with astonishment.

"No, I'm sorry, okay? I … don't have the right to tell you who you should and shouldn't date … and yes, I do rush into relationship rather frequently."

I continued to look at her in disbelief until she gave me an annoyed look. "Okay, who are you and what have you done with Star?"

"It's me, Marco." Star replied in a monotone voice.

"Yeah, no. The Star I know doesn't apologize that fast, not usually anyway."

She sighed and began to rub her eyebrows. "I just don't want you to be any more upset with me then you already are, okay?"

Her comment caught me off guard, I didn't think she still cared all that much about making me upset anymore. Maybe she's trying to make things better. I let out a sigh. "Okay, sorry." I grabbed her hand and began walking. "Let's just get to class before-" I was cut off by the sound of the bell signaling that we were late. "The late bell … Damn it."

* * *

 **Now for a little bit of info, in a few weeks is Manna week (MarcoXJanna) and of course I will be trying to participate in it but that also means that chapter for this story might take some time … I'm sorry about that but what can you do? Also, I will be on vacation next week so I might not be able to update my story … but I hope I will and I hope you all like it. Now I have to get some shut eye so I will see you all later.**

 **Enjoy your day and please leave your tears in the collection bucket.**


	14. Chapter 14

**I didn't update yesterday, I know, I'm sorry, I'm tired, insert another excuse here. Now I'm back from vacation and I feel fine and ready to write/review my chapters. But let's get down to business and get to your reviews.**

 **Heavybond56: Your question caught me off guard for a moment because I was about to answer it but then I realized that it would be spoiling. I do want to know who you think it is thought.**

 **TheRealCartoonManiac: Well, you all know how much I like Manna.**

 **Guest Sorta: When will Marco realize that he shouldn't be doing the things he's doing indeed.**

 **JJmmmmmlol: Yay for Manna!**

 **Guest: I also like Starco more than Manna but Manna does hold a special place in my heart.**

 **RobLebron: Well for Marco and Star to make up they have to be willing to accept the risk of the worst thing happening and we all know that's not going to happen any time soon.**

 **Advait2003: Oh, yes, I've just replaced it and I have a larger one in the mail, also, I can't tell you when this story will end, only that I've already finished writing it.**

 **doesn't: Thank you.**

 **Guest: Thank you.**

 **Disclaimer: Star vs. the Forces of Evil characters belong to Daron Nefcy.**

 **Beta read by Sabrina06**

* * *

(Marco's POV)

(The next day)

I was at my locker collecting the last of my things before going to wait for Star, who had managed to get herself thrown into detention, yet again, only this time it was for blasting another student into a wall. "And once again, I have to suffer while she is probably watching wrestling on the far television." I said as I finished packing my backpack. "And once again, I'm going to have to stay until she gets out." I closed the locker revealing Sabrina who had been standing just on the other side. "Oh, sorry, didn't see you there. Can I help you?"

"Well …" She began with a nervous expression about her. "I was … Wondering … If … You would go with me to the party this Friday?"

I looked at her, surprised, as I lifted my backpack over my shoulder. "Really? Why ask me?"

"Why not?" She replied almost excitedly.

I didn't really know what to make of the situation, but it didn't really bother me enough to have to stress over; this was the fourth time today someone had asked me and that wasn't counting Janna who asked me yesterday. "I will think on it, I mean I'm not sure if I'll even be there or if I even want to bring a date. Not to mention you're not the first person to ask me."

Her eyes turned down with the corners of her mouth as her expression turned from one of hope to one of sadness. "Oh … I see."

 _Damn it Marco!_ My mind screamed at me. "But if I plan on going, I will consider it."

Her expression turned back to one of joy as the guilt faded from my body. "Really? Thank you!"

She threw her arms around me, making me feel more than a little uncomfortable. "Okay … You can let go now."

"Oh, right." She let go of me and took a few steps back. "Sorry … I'll … Get going now." She took off faster then she appeared, leaving me confused.

"I wonder why so many girls are asking me to this party." I said as I walked down the hall. "I mean I'm not even that good looking." I continued down the hall until I was approached by a girl with long brown hair, brown eyes and a green dress that went down to her heels.

"Hi … Marco." She began nervously. "You might not know me, I sit behind you in History class."

"Wait a minute, wait a minute." I began as I put a finger in my head to try and remember her. "Your name is … Ashley?"

"You do know me!" She squealed. "But anyway, I was hoping that you would … I mean if you're not too busy of course … This Friday, there's this party and … I was wondering … If I could accompany you?"

"I will … Think about it?"

"Really?" She asked excitedly. "Thank you!" She darted off leaving me even more confused.

"Well that was strange." I turned around to begin walking again but I soon caught sight of Chantelle walking towards me. "Are they coming in force now?"

* * *

(Star's POV)

I was standing by the detention window watching wrestling along with Janna; seeing as the other detention students were either out sick or surprisingly didn't get detention. At first I was worried that Janna and I would still be fighting, but thankfully as soon as I got into detention it was like we never argued and we got to enjoy a great match of wrestling. "RIP HIS LIMBS FROM HIS BODY!" I shouted.

"SHOVE HIS FEET DOWN HIS THROAT!" Janna shouted after.

We continued watching the fight escalate in amusement and joy. "I'm sorry about the other day Janna." I began. "You were right, I got together with someone else and now I have to face the consequences."

"You're just saying that because you think he won't go out with me."

I was taken aback by her remark. "What? I can't believe you would insinuate such a thing."

"Am I wrong?" She asked as she glanced over at me. I bit my lower lip and looked around desperately for an excuse but Janna was quick to catch on. "I thought so." I felt horrible and wanted to say something but Janna just laughed. "It's okay Star, like Meliodas said to Ban, we may be trying to kill each other but no hard feelings, right?"

I looked at her confused. "I don't get it."

"It's an anime joke, don't stress over it." She went back to watching the match as I took a moment to try and process what she said before watching it as well. "Enough about Marco though, how about you tell me about that boyfriend of yours."

"Charro?" I asked. "Well where do I start? He's kinda like … well he acts like a gentleman but I can tell that it's just because he doesn't want to be rude."

"Isn't that a little … contradictory?"

"Not at all, I once saw him very politely deck a man who wouldn't leave me alone. Given I could have handled the situation myself, but it was still fun to watch."

"Is he British by any chance?"

I had to think about Janna's question before giving her an answer. "No, I don't think he's a country."

She stared at me abjectly. "No Star, I mean does he sound like he's from Britain."

"Oh, well … no I think … I think he's from Latin."

Janna looked at me abjectly again. "Star, Latin is not a place, it is a language, and that language is dead."

"Well how was I supposed to know that?" I asked. "I don't know where he's from exactly, or much else about him. What I do know is that he's compassionate yet he doesn't hesitate to get his hands dirty, he's also a great dancer and fighter."

"Sounds like Marco … You know, aside from the willing to get his hands dirty part."

"Marco is totally willing to get his hands dirty and they are nothing alike."

"You do know that those two statements contradict each other, right?"

"Not at all." I replied as I crossed my arms. "Marco is my best friend and always looks out for me. He keeps me grounded, helps me through troubling times; sometimes he stops me from doing things I would really regret, and no matter how many times I put him in danger or cause him an immense amount of trouble, he will always be there for me."

"Yet you won't let him come to a simple dance? No wonder he gets mad."

I looked down in shame. "I … It's not that simple, I … I love Marco but he's not just another boy, he's … my best friend." I looked up and placed my hand on the glass of the door. "A relationship with him would be my final one … And I'm only fifteen." I turned around and leaned against the door as my bangs blocked my field of view. "I'm just not sure I'm ready for-" my head shot up as I realized I had missed an important detail. "Wait a second, I never told you about the royal balls."

"Well you'll be amazed to know how I found out." She began with a sheepish grin. "Turns out, Marco was invited to each and every event you went to."

"I know." I replied. "He keeps the invitations under his desk drawer."

She looked at me as if I was wearing an octopus. "How did you find out? Did he tell you?"

"No." I said as I looked at the ceiling. "I went snooping in his room looking for … Well … Basically what I found."

She slowly began to smile before bursting into laughter. When she finally calmed down, she began to get some words out. "Are … Are you serious? You just violated his personal space?"

"I needed to know Janna." I began. "I didn't have any choice."

"Looks like I'm rubbing off on ya then." She muttered.

"Maybe you are." The wrestling match soon came to an end, but there was still a lot of time before Marco would arrive to pick me up. "I have an idea." I began as I pulled out my dimensional scissors. "How about we go destroy some flesh eating pumpkins."

"Sounds like a fun time."

* * *

(Marco's POV)

I wasn't really sure how it happened, but during my walk to the detention classroom I was sure that I had been asked out by about ten different girls. "What's going on here?" I had taken a more stealthy approach in an attempt to avoid more girls asking me out; and so far it was working. No one was actively searching me out which was good, but I still had to worry about walking past crowds. "And here's another detour I'll be taking." I said as I peeked around a corner to see a bunch of girls talking in a circle. "Why are there so many girls here after school?"

Much to my dismay, one of them appeared to be looking in my direction. "Marco?" She asked causing most of the girls to turn their heads and for me to duck back just in time.

"Damn it." I mumbled. "Need to hide." I began walking back but the sound of footsteps, many footsteps was swiftly approaching. "I need to find a place to hide." I quickly looked around until I noticed an unlocked locker nearby. "Perfect." I rushed to the locker and jumped inside, closing it behind me as I did. It didn't make too much noise but there was always a chance that I would be found.

"What?" A girl's voice asked. "I could have sworn I saw him."

"Well then you're seeing things." Another girl replied.

"Well I'm not worried." A third girl added. "I'm sure that I'll bump into him before the party."

I heard some more footsteps as they began walking away; and some went into the lockers around me. "Because of course why not?" I asked myself quietly. I waited a little while longer, but before it all became quiet, there was the sound of a soft movement of metal as the door to the locker I was in moved slightly. "Oh no." I whispered as I looked out the vent. "Of all the times." There was someone standing in front of the locker I was in, leaning against it would be more accurate but I couldn't really ask them to move seeing as I was trying to hide. A few minutes passed but even as the sound faded, there was no indication of the person in front of the locker moving.

"Well the coast is clear." A very familiar voice noted. "But it looks like I have you captive."

"Jackie." I moaned. "Of course it's you."

"You don't sound happy to see me."

I let out a sigh. "I've been trying to avoid girls all day because for some reason, most of them want to go to the party this Friday."

"Why not simply tell them no?"

I rolled my eyes. "Because, everyone thinks I'm single and why would a single guy say 'no' to so many girls?"

"I can think of several reasons." Jackie replied sounding cocky.

"Exactly!" I replied. "And I don't want them to think any of those."

"Then just tell them that you're not going, I mean how can you show up if Charro's going to be there."

"Well I'm not sure Charro is going to be there." I answered. "Maybe … maybe I want to be there as Star's friend."

"Well maybe you should bring a date of your own then." She replied. "I mean you and Charro are two different people, right?"

"He is still a part of me so that's still me cheating on Star and I won't do that." I let out a sigh as I ran my fingers through my hair. "Why do they want to go out with me anyway? I might be trying to be a misunderstood bad boy but I'm hardly anywhere near that."

I heard an audible laugh. "It's because now they finally can."

"And what does that mean?" I asked. "What happened that makes them only now come after me?"

There was a brief pause before she slowly gave me an answer. "It's … someone had dibs on you."

"Dibs?"

"Yeah, but their time is up and now once one shark spills blood the rest will swarm."

"Well that explains some." I said as I looked to the side. "But why me? I'm nothing special?"

"You don't give yourself enough credit Marco. Everyone has seen how great you are at fighting, you have one of the highest test scores out of anyone in our class, you're incredibly nice, you have the wisdom of a wise old man, and your Star's best friend."

I leered off to the side. "Okay, fine but it's not like I can go with any of them." Jackie was silent once more, I tried to look through the vent but all I could see was that she was looking down. "Did … Did you want to ask me?"

From the view I had through the vent I could see her look up at me and smiled. "I would have … But part of you is dating Star."

"And I won't cheat on her." I said with a feeling of resignation. "I'm sorry."

I heard movement before the locker slowly opened. "It's fine, but how about I accompany you to Star, that way no one else will ask you to the party?"

"If that does work then sure, I'm fine with it."

* * *

 **And that's it for this chapter, now if you'll excuse me, I need to take a nap.**

 **Enjoy your day and please leave your tears in the collection bucket.**


	15. Chapter 15

**So who's ready for another chapter? I know I am, but is everyone ready for the tragedy that is m writing? All jokes aside, man did I get the worst head ach imaginable earlier so I just want to get to the reviews and sleep till I have to go to work.**

 **SamTheKingOfHell: Thank you.**

 **kylegriggs13: Once a week my friend, once a week.**

 **TheRealCartoonManiac: That would be funny but can Marco cast spells?**

 **Guest Sorta: Well Isabel, I wasn't the one who said it (Also I didn't know you had a dog and a cat).**

 **RobLebron: Star and Marco fight, that basically happens in all my fics.**

 **JJmmmmmlol: It actually was a little challenging but with a lot of rereading I managed to get it. Also, some quick advice? Well I recommend sleep … seriously, it helps.**

 **: I managed to dig up a stand in till the new one arrives.**

 **Disclaimer: Star vs. the Forces of Evil characters belong to Daron Nefcy.**

 **Beta read by Sabrina06**

* * *

(Star's POV)

Janna and I made it to the dimension of screaming pumpkins and were looking for a nest of man eating pumpkins to smash. The dimension itself was very pumpkin like, with pumpkin trees, pumpkin flowers, the water was pumpkin juice, heck, even the ground was composed of pumpkins. "I didn't expect there to be so many pumpkins." Janna said as we ventured through the pumpkin woods. A wild pumpkin dear trotted up to Janna and began nuzzling her. "Even the wild life is pumpkins."

"Well what did you expect?" I asked looked through a pumpkin bush. "Just be on your guard, the man eating pumpkins can sneak up on you in a moment's notice."

"Um … Star?" Janna asked.

"They should be around here somewhere." I said after looking behind a pumpkin tree.

"Star?" Janna asked a little more forcefully.

"Just keep looking, we're sure to find them sooner or later."

"STAR!" Janna shouted.

I turned around to see what the problem was only to find a ten foot tall man eating pumpkin was holding Janna up with its vine wrapped all around her. "Why didn't you tell me you found one?"

"Seriously?" Janna asked as the pumpkin lifted her above itself and opened its giant maw.

"Don't worry!" I exclaimed as I aimed my wand at the pumpkin. "SUPER SQUASH BLAST!" A blast of magic nailed the creature right in the mouth causing it to inflate until it exploded causing pumpkin innards to splatter everywhere while Janna fell to the ground with a thump. "Janna!" I ran over to her to see if she was okay.

"I'm fine." She said as she rubbed her back. "I didn't think they would be that big."

"Well they have to be big, they eat people."

"Well you didn't say they would eat us whole."

Just then, I felt something wrap itself around my leg, and before I could react it pulled me into the air flipping me upside down. "Damn it." I quickly blasted the vine holding me up causing me to fall to the ground. "Looks like the herd is here." I said as I noticed that we were surrounded.

I quickly blasted a few as more began to rush us. From there I managed to leap on top of one, and from there jump even higher. "Mega rainbow disintegration!" A rainbow beam erupted from my wand and collided with one of the pumpkins, turning it into mush. From there, I directed the beam to collide with another and another; but after that, it stopped and I slowly floated to the ground. "Huh?" I asked as I looked at my wand. "That's not good." I looked over to Janna to see her narrowly avoiding the vines of multiple pumpkins. "Janna's not the best fighter." I realized as I began to run over to her. When I got there however, I realized that Janna wasn't running but she had managed to get five of the pumpkins stuck in each other's vines.

"Well that was easy." She said as she brushed her hands off. There was a loud crash as more man eating pumpkins began to encircle us. "Looks like I spoke too soon."

* * *

(Marco's POV)

Jackie and I reached the detention classroom only to find that Star was nowhere to be found. "Why am I not surprised?" I asked as I stared at the empty room.

"Has this been happening a lot?" Jackie asked as she took a quick look around.

"Kinda." I answered as I walked into the room to look for a clue to where Star went. "I think she's started to outgrow me, hence why she's been going off on her own."

"She could just want some alone time." Jackie replied as she followed me in. "Everyone needs it at some point."

"If she just wanted to be alone then she could have just told me in the first place, on top of that, where's Janna?"

Jackie looked at the room again before coming to the same realization. "Ah, so they are skipping detention together."

I dropped my head and let out a sigh. "I guess she's found a replacement for me then."

"Will you stop that?" Jackie hissed as she walked into the classroom. "I get you're upset, but she hangs out with Janna all the time."

"Point taken." I replied as I followed her into the classroom. "So where do you think they went?"

"Well what about this?" She asked as she picked up a note that was left on the desk. "Dear Marco, Janna and I have gone to the dimension of screaming pumpkins to hunt some man eating pumpkins. Don't worry about us, Janna and I will be fine by ourselves. Your besty, Star Butterfly." She looked up from the note. "Sounds like she already left."

"Sounds to me like she doesn't want me anywhere near." I replied.

Jackie rolled her eyes. "I think your reading too much into this."

"Maybe." I walked over to the desk and took a look at the note. "The dimension of screaming pumpkins."

"She said she could handle herself." Jackie repeated.

"I know." I looked over the note again. "That being said though, I have an idea." She leered at me like I was about to do something incredibly stupid. "And I'm going to need your help."

* * *

(Star's POV)

While I was trying to disintegrate the pumpkins I heard Janna shriek similar to when we accidentally summoned hungry Larry. When I turned I saw that she was restrained by a pumpkin that was trying to bite into her left arm. "Janna!" I pointed my wand at the pumpkin. "Cupcake blast!" A flurry of cupcakes were summoned from my wand and knocked the pumpkin off balance forcing it to drop Janna. "You know in retrospect, I think maybe charging in head first might not have been the best of ideas." I said as I helped her to her feet.

"You think?" Janna asked as she grasped a cut on her left arm. "You charge in when you have the fighter with you, when you have the rouge you're supposed to set up an ambush."

"Well I'll remember that for next time." I said as I created a rainbow bandage around Janna's wound.

"If there is a next time." The man eating pumpkins began to surround us making escaping rather impossible.

"Oh ye of little faith." I replied as I twirled my wand. "Just watch and learn." I took a step back and took the first stance. "Now let's get serious." I raised my wand up and to my right and began the motions for one of my most powerful spells.

"Star! Now's not the time for dancing!" Janna exclaimed.

I finished the spell by raising my wand high above my head. "Warnicorn Stampede!" The ground began to shake as smoke and glitter rose from the ground followed soon by a stampede of warnicorns.

"You have got to be kidding me." Janna said before quickly searching for something to hide behind. The warnicorns charged the pumpkins, trampling them and reducing them too mush in almost no time at all.

When the dust finally cleared, and Janna came out from behind her tree to see all the pumpkin goo that was strewn everywhere, she quickly turned to glare at me. "Star!" She began to walk towards me. "That … was … AMAZING!" She threw her hands into the air and smiled. "Why didn't you just lead with that?"

"That would have been too easy." I said as I tossed my wand from one hand to the other. "It was a lot more fun this way, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yeah, it was." Janna admitted.

"It sure looked like a party." Came a voice from right above us. "Janna and I looked up and I smiled at who was standing in the tree.

"Charro!" I exclaimed. He was standing on a thick branch in the same black hoodie and red shirt as he wore a few days ago. "Wait a minute." I said as I regained control of myself. "How did you find us, and what are you doing here?"

"And how long were you watching us?" Janna added.

"Excellent questions." Charro replied before he jumped to a lower branch and then to the ground. "I had realized that I don't have any means of … well, contacting you."

"Oh." I felt a wave of embarrassment come over me, Charro and I had gone out several times already and I hadn't once given him my number like I should have. "Janna, I need a paper and pen."

"Not until this creep tell us how he found us." Janna replied as she placed her hands on her hips. "Have you been stalking us?"

"Not at all." He replied. "But I understand your skepticism. There are not many places of education in the town where Star told me to meet her, and from there, well, I figured that with how big a handful you would be, a good place to start my search would be a disciplinary section."

"The detention office?" Janna asked. "Sounds a little too convenient to me."

"I assure you, it was mostly luck; I was expecting to have to ask around from there, I hadn't expected to find your exact location so soon." He pulled out the note that I had left for Marco.

"How … did you find my exact location?" I asked.

"Well a boy named Marco Diaz was there looking for you. He told me that you left a note and where I could find you then … marched off like he was upset or something."

"Oh don't worry about Marco." I replied. "He's not someone you should concern yourself with." I felt a little nervous about lying about Marco, given I wouldn't cheat on my boyfriend even if I knew he was temporary, but I just wanted to put his mind at ease. "Now about that paper and pen?" I said as I turned back to Janna.

Janna rolled her eyes and pulled a piece of paper and pen out of her backpack. "Fine, here." She handed it to me and I began to write down my cell phone number.

"Oh, wait a second." Janna began. "Was Marco with anyone when you saw him?"

"Some girl with blond hair and a seashell necklace." I paused for a moment at Charro's description. "Didn't get her name but they seemed rather close."

"Jackie." I whispered. "He was with Jackie."

Both of them stared at me until I realized that I still hadn't finished writing down my number. "Oh, right." I quickly finished and handed the paper to Charro. "Sorry I didn't give this to you earlier."

"It is no trouble my princess." He said with a bow. "I am sorry to have inconvenienced you and your friend during your hunt."

"You could join us!" I quickly stated causing Janna to give me a look of annoyance. "I mean … if you're not too busy."

He smiled and shook his head. "I'm sorry, but sadly I have many a task that must be dealt with."

I pouted and pulled him into a hug. "Well you had better call me after you're done then."

"I shall." He replied. I released him from the hug and he quickly cut open a dimensional portal.

"Wait one more moment!" Janna interjected. "How long were you watching us?"

"A while." He replied. "I didn't want to get in the way when I wasn't invited. Besides, you two seemed as though you had the challenge handled rather well."

"So you just watched?" She asked. "You could have helped us!"

"But I wasn't needed, and I don't go where I'm not needed." He put a leg through the portal and waved. "Until we meet again." He stepped through the portal and it quickly closed behind him leaving Janna and I alone.

"There's something off about him." Janna said as she crossed her arms.

"You worry too much." I turned around and started walking. "Come on, let's find more man eating pumpkins."

* * *

 **No time for an end note, need to go to sleep, enjoy manna week!**

 **Enjoy your day and please leave your tears in the collection bucket.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Wasn't I supposed to update this yesterday? Well I'm sorry if I forgot but … I forgot. Anyway, I've been putting a lot of work into wholesome week lately so please be patient if updates aren't going to be as frequent. Hopefully you all enjoy and let's get to the reviews.**

 **Robertkellett: Thank you, it gets hard to balance everything sometimes but it's all worth it in the end.**

 **SugarQueen97: Yeah, Marco and Star are going through a lot.**

 **Guest Sorta: I know google translate sucks but I made Janna say it because I knew it was wrong … well … mostly anyway. Marco isn't that much of a stalker … is he?**

 **Advait2003: You will find out.**

 **ArtGirlLullaby: That's an interesting thought and a good idea but that chapter is still a ways away, you will have to wait and see if your witchcraft works on fanfiction as well as the television show.**

 **LeviLemon: Well wait no longer.**

 **RobLebron: The party hasn't happened yet, and Star is the queen of running from her problems, also Marco has a backup plan so don't worry about that.**

 **JJmmmmmlol: There is a reason for that but it does involve a fair bit of luck, mostly though, Jackie found out by chance.**

 **Guest: Yes, there was a few chapters with Manna in it.**

 **TheRealCartoonManiac: Soon.**

 **Disclaimer: Star vs. the Forces of Evil characters belong to Daron Nefcy.**

 **Beta read by Sabrina06**

* * *

(Star's POV)

Janna and I were continuing our adventure through the dimension of screaming pumpkins. However, I had other things on my mind than hunting down more man eating pumpkins. I was walking with a spring in my step and a smile on my face, not really caring if I actually ran into any man eating pumpkins or not, but rather what I would say to my boyfriend later tonight.

"Are you feeling all right Star?" Janna asked as she noticed my cheerful mood.

"Couldn't be better." I answered.

Janna raised an eyebrow at me. "Don't tell me your thinking about Charro."

I did a quick turn to look at her as I started walking backwards. "And what if I am?"

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Star, you do realize that you effectively gave up Marco for a mask, right?"

I felt myself get pulled back to reality at Janna's remark. "I didn't give up Marco." I said as I continued walking backwards. "Sure, I might not have dibs on him anymore, but he and I are destined to be together."

"You keep telling yourself that." Janna replied. "But by the end of the week Marco will be all mine."

"Janna, what's wrong with you? This is like … the fourth time you've mentioned Marco today. I thought you hated talking about romance during adventures."

"You're right, I do hate it." Janna replied. "But your assumption that you and Marco are going to be a thing, even though you chose someone else to be your boyfriend, and never pay the slightest bit of attention to him, is starting to get annoying."

That was the breaking point, Janna had crossed a line and I felt like I was ready to kill someone. "Are you trying to mess with me?" I asked as I stopped walking backwards and began walking towards her. "Marco is my besty, my best besty, better than any of my other besties. I love him and our souls are literally connected, where do you get off saying that I don't care for him?"

"Really, he is?" Janna retorted. "I mean you've only lied to him about your royal dances, found out that he knows you've been lying and you still haven't done anything about it. You claim that you've loved him, yet you still went out searching for another guy, and found one, and when was the last time you two hung out that wasn't walking to school or class?"

I placed my hands on my hips and leaned forward. "That's none of your business now is it?"

"You're right." Janna began. "It's none of my business that you and Marco haven't spent any significant time together for the past six months."

"It hasn't been six months Janna!" I hisses. "It's been more like …" I took a moment to try and remember the last time Marco and I spent any time together what so ever. "One … month."

"Oh." Janna rolled her eyes. "So it's only been a single month, I was so wrong."

"I can't help it, he's angry at me half the time."

"And whose fault is that?"

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. "Okay, so Marco and I are going through a bit of a rough patch, things will be better as soon as we get together."

"Are you … are you kidding?" She asked. "Star … Marco is … was, a normal human before you stepped into his life, do you even see how much all this is affecting him?"

"He's perfectly fine, same old Marco I've always known."

Janna stared at me, dumbfounded. "Star … he …" She face palmed and subsequent took a breath to calm herself. "Star, you're amazing and all but I can't tell if you're in denial or just blind. Either way, what right do you have calling dibs on someone you don't pay the least bit attention to?"

I clenched my wand in my hand and resisted the urge to blast Janna. "I pay plenty attention to him." I pulled out my dimensional scissors and cut open a portal that lead straight to Janna's house. "I think we're done hunting for today Janna." I stated.

Janna looked at the portal and back to me. "I guess so." She walked through the portal which quickly closed behind her leaving me alone in the dimension of screaming pumpkins.

"What does she know anyway?" I asked as I stared into the distance. "She doesn't even like Marco … right?"

* * *

(Marco's POV)

I was at home, sitting on my bed, as I looked my Charro mask and outfit. Every time I put it on I felt like I lost a little more of myself; and at this point, I had no idea what I was going to do about it. "You should just succumb, Star doesn't want you as a friend anymore."

"My life is more than just Star though." I said as I looked at the mask. "There's my family, my education, my friends."

"You want to go back to being normal Marco?" I replied.

"The alternative is just an empty shell." I answered. "That's all Charro is, simply a mask."

I let out a sigh as I put my outfit into the closet and stuffed the mask into my backpack. "I'll have to deal with that later, right now, I have homework."

I sat down at my desk and pulled out my notebook, but before I could even jot down a single word, there was a magical tearing sound coming from behind me. "Of course." I said as I turned around to see a portal opening in the center of my room.

Star quickly marched through with a scowl on her face like she had just had an argument with her mom; but the portal wasn't from Mewni. "Hi Marco." She said as she tried to hide her frustration. "How have you been?"

"You know, you could try knocking first." I replied as I reached into my pocket. "And what do you need?"

"I … just wanted to stop in and say hello to my best friend."

I gave a defeated sigh as I shook my head. "All right, fine, just … I have homework to do so could you just leave me alone for now?"

"Oh … okay." She reply walking out the door.

I got up and closed my door before walking back to my desk and pulling a prepaid phone out of my backpack. I had gotten the prepaid phone on my way home, seeing as I didn't want Star to recognize my caller ID. "Maybe I should wait a little." I said as I put it back into my backpack. "I'm going to finish my homework first."

* * *

(Star's POV)

(Later)

I was sitting on my bed with my phone in front of me, waiting for Charro to call. I had long since learned my lesson about getting sad when someone didn't call right away; but I was still impatient. "What's taking him so long?" I asked as I continuously taped my knee on the bed. "Wait … does he even have a phone to call me with?"

Before I could worry more, my phone began to ring and I snatched it up and answered it. "Hello?" I greeted.

"Star?" Charro's voice replied. "Star, is that you?"

"Charro!" I exclaimed. "Charro, I'm so glad to hear from you, how is everything going?"

"All is going well, my princess." He answered. "Sorry it took so long to call you, it was harder than expected to get a hold of a phone."

"Yeah, I figured." I replied as I grinned sheepishly. "So, first and foremost, are you by chance free this Friday?"

"Friday?" He asked. "Correct me if I am wrong but that is three days from today, correct?"

"Yeah, do you have anything planed for that day?"

"No, I am free. What did you have planned?"

"Really?" I asked excitedly. "I mean … well … there's a party this Friday and I wanted to know if you would go with me."

"But of course, I would be honored."

"AWESOME!" I shouted. "I mean … great, I can't wait."

"Neither can I, princess."

I was about to say goodbye, but I remembered something important I wanted to ask. "Oh, before I forget, you said you met Marco today, right?"

There was a long moment of silence before he replied. "Yes … I … exchanged words with him."

"Yeah um … what did you think about him?"

"What did I think?" He asked. "Well, I only talked to him a little but he seemed like he was annoyed by my presence."

"Yeah, he didn't really … approve of you, I wish I could have taken the time to properly introduce you two to each other."

"He was your friend, right?"

"Well, yes." I replied as I began fiddling with a strand of my hair. "I … he's a very good friend of mine, but people keep telling me that he's upset or something. Do you think he seemed … down?"

"That's hard for me to say, I don't know him that well but he did seem … troubled."

"Troubled?"

"Yes, but that may just be due to his dislike of me."

"Possibly." I looked over at my mirror and then at the picture of Marco and I that I had on the frame. "I should talk to him and put an end to this."

"If you think that is best." He replied. "I am afraid I can not really help you with this matter, it is not my place to interfere."

"Thanks anyway, so I'll see you Friday?"

"Yes, but where is this place?"

"I think it's by the park we went to not too long ago. It's a big house … um, there's going to be a lot of people going there … I'm not sure the exact address."

"It's alright; I should be able to find it from there."

"Great, so I'll see you there?"

"I wouldn't miss it for the world."

* * *

 **And there you have it, now to take a much needed nap before going to work … I need to set my alarm to allow for more sleep if I'm just going to nap the day away. See you all later.**

 **Have a nice day!**


	17. Chapter 17

**I know this chapter is late, and that's entirely my fault, I was delayed on getting it done but here it is now. I've just been working on the next shipping week a lot so I've been behind. Now how about we get to the reviews.**

 **Robertkellett: Yeah, it might be cool, but Janna would need to be really pissed at him and it's Star that she's upset with.**

 **Guest Sorta: I get that you're angry with Charro … that's about it.**

 **JJmmmmmlol: True, Marco should have done something else, but remember, he's not in his right mind at the moment.**

 **LeviLemon: Well, Charro doesn't appear that often, and Marco and Jackie would tell Star that they saw Charro so it's unlikely that something like that would happen.**

 **Guest: Well mostly, Janna's just sick of Star acting like everything is fine when it's all falling down around her, and hopefully Marco will realize what's going on soon or it'll be too late.**

 **Guest: I can't wait to show you.**

 **RobLebron: Wait, what do you mean? Who has Marco agreed to go with?**

 **Guest: The blood moon.**

 **ArtGirlLullaby: I take it this review was for the last chapter and not chapter 1. Oh you can? Where might that be? Actually … well, maybe you should read for yourself what happens in an upcoming chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: Star vs. the Forces of Evil characters belong to Daron Nefcy.**

 **Beta read by Sabrina06**

* * *

(Marco's POV)

(The next day)

School had come and gone as one of the most ordinary days I have ever had in a while which, when you think about it, is probably the least ordinary day I've had in a while. At the moment I was sitting at my desk, trying to focus on homework but unfortunately, my mind seemed to focus on only one thing. 'You know you can't go with her this Friday.' My mind told me. _It is one step too far in the wrong direction._

"You're already past the line." I replied. "If you don't go then you will break Star's heart and we don't want that." I griped my pencil in my hand and began to shake. "Face it, you care about her, you love her, if you don't go then you will break her heart, if you tell her the truth then you will break her heart, the only option is to become who she thinks you are."

 _But you're not Charro!_ My mind hollered. _You are Marco Diaz! Not some masked ladies' man!_

I slammed my fist on the table and shook my head. "Will you both stop it!"

"Who you talking to?"

I turned around quickly to see Star standing in my doorway, a confused look on her face. "No one." I replied. "You know, you could try knocking."

"I know." She began. "But popping in on my bestie unexpected is way more fun."

I scoffed and turned back around. "Bestie, yeah, whatever you say."

"What?" Star rushed over to me and stuck her head between me and my homework. "Marco … are you feeling all right?"

"I'm fine Star." I replied as I tried to get a view of my homework.

"I mean mentally." She clarified. "Is there something that's bothering you that I can help you with?"

"Did you actually ask me that?" I asked as I turned to look at her. "Star, if I needed your help with something, don't you think I would have asked?"

She moved her head out of the way and I was about to go back to my homework until she spun my chair around. "You wouldn't." She replied as she looked me dead in the eye. "You've been upset with me for longer than usual and … it worries me"

"You're kidding, right?" I asked. "Star, just let me do my homework."

"No, I want to know what's different! You've usually eased up by now but you haven't!"

"Just leave me alone!" I exclaimed, causing Star to back up a little.

She looked at me for a moment before letting out a sigh. "Okay, if that's what you want." She turned around and walked out leaving, me alone with my thoughts.

"She goes through my personal stuff and asks me why I'm mad at her?" I asked aloud.

 _That's just Star._ My mind replied causing me to freeze. S _he never lets a thing like personal space or boundaries get in her way, and how could you be so mad at her when this is your reaction?_

I was a bit confused at first until I realized what my body was doing; my heart was going a million miles per hour and I was sweating like I had just run a marathon. My hormones were in chaos and it only took me a moment until I realized why. Just moments ago, Star was right on top of me and I mean right on top of me. She was supporting herself with the armrests on my chair and I remembered just how close our lips were to each other. I recalled every feature of her; from her soft lips to her sad beautiful eyes. Every detail was burning itself into my mind, from her propped up shoulders to her sea green dress and purple striped leggings. As they burnt themselves into my mind, new images began to surface, and with them, a feeling that I acknowledged, but thought I had buried. _Did you forget that you love her?_ My head asked. _You really shouldn't have, suppressing things like that can be bad for you._ My body began to shake as the feeling overtook me, like a part of myself that had just come back. The voice in my throat was silent and the rational part of my brain stopped responding. The initial rush was intense and had made my body rather unresponsive, but thankfully, it didn't last long. Eventually the feeling subsided and I was left in a puddle of sweat with a rapid heartbeat.

The feeling I had to try and bury however was now back, and I knew it was only a matter of time until the pain returned with it. What's more though was that this feeling made me notice something, something I hadn't realized until I remembered what love felt like. "Charro doesn't love Star." I whispered.

I didn't know what to think but I knew that I had to do something. I quickly got up and locked my door then ran back to my desk and pulled my mask out of my backpack. "We have something we need to talk about."

* * *

(Star's POV)

I walked into my room and leaned against the door. "Okay, I royally messed up." I slid into a slouch and hugged my knees. "At the very least I should have checked to see if he was invited, keeping him away was definitely a bad idea." I sat there for a moment contemplating the possible consequences of my actions. "I hope I haven't ruined my future with him." I violently shook my head. "I'm dating Charro, I'm not allowed to think about things like this!" I stood up and threw myself onto my bed with my face in my pillow. "Marco, Marco, Marco! I'm not ready for you yet Marco! Can you please stop making me regret Charro?" I jumped to my feet, stretched out my arms, and then walked over to my door. "I need some fresh air."

* * *

(Marco's POV)

I was sitting at my desk staring at the mask before me, awkwardly trying to make conversation with it. "Look here you, I know for a fact that you don't love Star!" I exclaimed. "You might think I don't remember anything from my time as the Charro, but it's coming back to me in time and I know, that feeling of love that I feel for Star, you don't feel it, and I know! But the question isn't why you don't feel it, it's why are you trying to hurt me like this?"

I felt like an idiot talking to an inanimate object like I was, but I had to get to the bottom of this. "Is it to make me feel bad? You're staying with her because you know it will hurt me? You know that I love her so you're trying to show me first hand that she's yours? Well I've got news for you, she's not!"

The mask remained unresponsive. "Talk damn you!" I exclaimed as I slammed my fist on the desk. I sat there, in awkward silence, until the reality of my situation finally kicked in. "I'm talking to an inanimate object." I said as I sat back and rubbed my eyes. "Charro is a part of me, not the mask."

I began spinning myself in my chair as I contemplated what was going on. "Charro doesn't love Star, but seeing as Charro is a part of me, Charro didn't know he didn't love Star."

I stopped my spinning and looked over at the mask. "I'm just looking for someone to blame for my mistake."

I picked up the mask and looked through it. "I need to put an end to this." I was about to put the mask down but out of the corner of my eye I noticed something peculiar across the street outside my window. "Well that can't be good."

* * *

(Star's POV)

I was strolling down the sidewalk with my thoughts stuck on Marco and Charro, I didn't want to lose my besty but I was worried that it might be too late. "Okay, so Marco knows that you've been lying to him, which is why he's so angry. That's not the end of the world though, I mean Marco and I are close still and this is only a little bump … okay, so maybe it's a big bump but still only a bump. All I have to do is tell him the truth when the time is right, he'll understand." I stopped and let out a sigh. "That will never work, Marco's feelings for me will have dried up by then." I continued walking, trying hard to come up with an idea. "I could just come clean now and confess my mistake and why I did it." I wrapped my arms around my waist and shivered. "Then again … that means I would have to tell Marco that I love him … and even if I did break up with Charro I … I'm not sure if I'm ready for the permanent relationship that comes with being with someone as close as Marco." I turned my head skyward hopping the answer would come to me. "Why am I not ready?" I asked myself. "Everyone else seems like they're ready for someone like Marco, why am I not ready?"

I stopped and walked over to a nearby tree and sat under it. "I mean … I'm only fifteen … and I'm not the type to have my future planed out, but Marco? He's the one thing I know I'm going to have in my future … right?" I smiled as I reminded myself of my future with Marco. "Only the two of us … well at first yeah, but eventually, of course, we will have to have a child …Marco would be fine with that of course." My smile faded as doubt crept into my mind. "He … he would say yes when I eventually ask him." I pulled my knees to my chest. "He's in my future … our future." I began to feel cold as my mind went back to yesterday and the day before when Marco was asked out by all those girls. "Marco would chose me, I mean he loves me, right?" A strong wind blew, making me shiver as it swept my hair into my eyes as a question that hadn't even bothered to ask made its way into my mind for the first time ever. "Does … does Marco feel the same way about me … as I do for him?"

* * *

 **So I have a stye … which is basically a small pimple on the end of my eyelid … I'm learning to ignore it but for the time being, it's the most annoying thing ever so don't expect and update in the next few days. I am sorry.**

 **Have a nice day!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Hi there, so I know it's been a while since I've updated this story and I'm sorry about that, I've just had a few things to go through after my wholesomeweek 2 prompts bombed. Anyway, I'm back and I've got more chapter and hopefully, I should be finished with this story before the hiatuses is over *Knock on wood* Anyway, let's get to those reviews.**

 **Robertkellett: Yeah, Marco is kinda going through an identity crisis right now so he doesn't really understand what's going on. You know, there's an old saying that hate is too strong an emotion to waist on someone you don't care about. And yeah, Star and Marco are being naive to the point of annoyance but that is kinda what I was aiming for. Oh, I think one of them is about to fess up something.**

 **Guest Sorta: Yes they are.**

 **JollyBritishChap: Thank you, and it's not strange, I find it very fitting for Spanish guitar to be played every time he shows up.**

 **Sugar: Hold on one minute … okay, I understood that enough to know what you were saying … and … well … I can't really spoil anything so sorry.**

 **RobLebron: Well Star thinks she also needs to break up with Charro and Marco thinks that Star will stop being his friend if she finds out about him being Charro. Other than that though, your logic seems quite sound, if only Star and Marco weren't emotional teenagers.**

 **Guest: Thank you.**

 **Guest: Well now they both think that confessing their love means that their friendship is over so … they don't want to do that.**

 **Putxi: Well yeah, but Star doesn't know that.**

 **JJmmmmmlol: Thankfully it's gone away and now I know how to deal with it, it will not take away from Star's pain though.**

 **Disclaimer: Star vs. the Forces of Evil characters belong to Daron Nefcy.**

 **Beta read by Sabrina06**

* * *

(Star's POV)

I sat underneath the tree contemplating the question of whether or not Marco had feelings for me. "All this time … all this time and I never thought to question it. What if he only sees me as a friend, what if he will only ever see me as a friend?" I sighed and closed my eyes. "And here I was convincing myself that I was going to have a future with him no matter what, yet I never even stopped to consider his feelings." I leaned back against the tree and began to regret my recent mistakes and presumptions. "And now I'm going to lose Marco, I'm going to lose my best friend."

A moment later I heard the snap of a twig and opened my eyes just in time to catch something charging at me. I didn't have time to process what it was, I just shot up and jumped over it before it managed to tackle me. "That was close." I turned around to get a better look at my attacker and was almost surprised by what I found. "You again?" I asked as the monster made its way to its feet. It was the minotaur creature that had attacked while I was on my date with Charro and he didn't look the least bit happy that I had avoided his charge.

"Damn it." He hollered. "I almost had you."

"Why are you coming after me?" I asked. "Especially by yourself, seeing as I single-handedly defeated you, and your crew the last time you attacked?"

He only smiled and I felt like I was missing some joke. Before I could contemplate his plan though, something else ambushed me and tackled me to the ground. "Who said I came alone?" I heard him ask.

I kicked my way out of the monster's grasp and jumped to my feet. "Okay, I presumed more that I should have, again." I said as I got a bearing on exactly how many there were. After a quick head count I noticed that these were the exact same monsters who came after me while I was on my date with Charro. "What do you want with me?" I demanded.

"We want corn!" The minotaur proclaimed. "We bring you in and we get all the corn we can eat."

"Corn? Again?" I asked. "I mean sure, it's great and all but seriously, no one but Mewmen have corn."

"I don't rightfully care to give details." He cracked his knuckles. "Especially when you're going to find out first hand when we drag you there."

"Nah, I don't think so." I pointed my wand at the minotaur and smiled. "Narwhal blast!" My wand glowed for a moment before fizzing out. "Huh?" I shook the wand and tried again. "NARWHAL BLAST!" Still, nothing happened. I looked at my wand and shook it a little. "What's wrong with this thing?"

"Looks like our lucky day." The minotaur announced. "Your boyfriend ain't with you, and your magic ain't working."

I put my wand away and took a fighting stance. "Well I don't need my magic, or Marco to beat you."

"Wait." He began as he scratched his head. "That boy in the mask was the Marco that we heard about?"

"Huh?" I looked at him confused. "Charro isn't Marco … and Marco's not my boyfriend!" I quickly added.

"ENOUGH OF THIS!" The werewolf hollered. "I WANT CORN!"

The werewolf charged at me and I leapfrogged over it, just in time to notice the minotaur begin a second charge. I quickly sidestepped and kicked it, causing him to fall to the ground as the other monsters came at me. "This would be so much easier if my wand was working." I said as I picked up the rat and threw it at the vulture, causing them both to fall to the ground. The only monster left was the porcupine which was inches away from impaling me with its quills. I quickly flipped back onto my hands and kicked it in the jaw as I flipped backwards, only to find that all the other monsters were getting to their feet. "Oh come on!" I exclaimed as I punched the minotaur in the jaw. "Any other day." I paused to kick the werewolf in the stomach. "I would be more than happy to kick all your buts." I paused again to twirl out of the way of the charging vulture. "But I'm kinda going through something right now, so can you come back again some other time?"

"This is no game!" The minotaur hissed. "If this is a bad time for you then it's the perfect time for us!"

As I rolled my eyes I heard what sounded like the strumming of a guitar. "What was-" Before I could finish my question, the minotaur was face down on the ground with none other than Charro standing on top of him.

"A gentleman never ambushes a women when she is not at her best." He stepped on the minotaur's head pushing it into the ground. "For that matter, a gentleman never ambushes a lady at all."

"Oh shove it up your-" Charro lifted the minotaur's head and slammed it back into the ground knocking it out.

"Charro!" I shouted as I threw my arms into the air. "I'm so happy to see you here." I punched one of the monsters who was trying to surprise me from behind. "But also a little confused."

"I understand." Charro said as he put the vulture into a head lock. "I will explain my presence in a moment; but for now, we must deal with the matter at hand."

"Oh, right." I turned around and socked the porcupine again.

As I smirked at the reeling monster, I felt something jump onto my back and start thrashing about. I also began thrashing about, trying to get it off me, until I finally got hold of the furry rodent that was on me and threw it as far as I could. When I turned though, I saw the werewolf charging at Charro with its claws out ready to take a swipe at him. I tried to run over to help him but there was no way I would get to him before the monster did. I thought he was done for until a moment later, I blinked and when I opened my eyes, the werewolf was gone and Charro was closing a dimensional portal. "What happened?" I asked as I got over to him.

"What? Did you blink?" He asked with a smirk.

I pouted and turned to face the remaining monsters along with Charro. "You ready?" I asked.

"Of course." He replied as he took a fighting stance.

The monsters all grouped together, but before any of them could attack the minotaur turned tail and ran. "Retreat!" He shouted as the rest of the remaining monsters followed suit.

We watched as they opened a portal and fled back to Mewni with a smile. "And don't come back!" I exclaimed with glee. I turned to Charro smiling and threw my arms around him. "You came just in the nick of time." I released him, remembering that I still had a question or two, and took a step back. "Speaking of which, how did you know I needed help?"

He took a moment, possibly to gather his thoughts before responding. "Well, for starters I've been spending a lot of time on Earth because, like you said, it is nice. That's when I noticed those creatures prowling the streets. I figured that they weren't from around here so I shadowed them and they lead me straight to you."

"Ah, I see." I replied.

"So what about you?" He asked. "Why were you out here?"

I turned to the side and began kicking stones. "Well … I've been … troubled."

"Troubled?" He asked.

"Yeah, thing is, some of my friends are concerned that I'm dating someone I just met."

"That is to be expected." He replied. "I mean it is true, you only just met me a week ago and the mask isn't helping."

"Then take it off." I replied causing Charro to look at me surprised. "There's no point in you wearing it."

He looked away as he bit his lower lip. "I … without this mask, I am someone else, and you don't feel the same way about him."

"You said that already." I replied. "Let me be the judge of how I feel."

He let out a sigh and shook his head. "I … I already know how you feel, but if you must know, you will find out soon enough."

"Really?" I asked excitedly as I clasped my hands together. "How soon?"

"That would ruin the surprise, now wouldn't it?"

I pouted and crossed my arms. "Well that's no fair."

"All good things come to those who wait."

I rolled my eyes. "I suppose." I wasn't exactly sure why he didn't want to reveal who he was, I didn't mind it all that much, but my friends would remain skeptical of him so long as he did. I mean it's not like he needed it, as far as I was concerned he was the same person, with or without the mask.

* * *

(Star's POV)

(Later that night)

I was sitting on my bed starring at my wand, wondering why it didn't respond today. "It's not out of power." I said as I shook it. I continued to look at it until I placed it onto my nightstand and pulled my knees to my chest. "Must have something to do with how mixed up I'm feeling." I looked over to my wand sitting on my night stand. "Maybe … maybe it's time I talk to him."

* * *

 **And that's a wrap, now to look at my next chapter and … oh … um … *hides***

 **Enjoy your day and please leave your tears in the collection bucket.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Hi there, I hope you've all had a good Monday and I've just realized that I need to seriously rethink** ** _when_** **I release these chapters because Monday** ** _isn't_** **the** ** _best_** **time to post new chapters. Maybe I'll release another chapter this week and make that my new day I post, or maybe I'll just skip a week and sit in my own chair, starring at my computer as I look at the wreckage that is my next story (It's really turning out worse than I thought (I think my skill is leaving me)). But anyway, it's time for me to get to the reviews.**

 **Advait2003: Oh yes my friend, a lot is happening.**

 **Amadankus Mozart: Why thank you, and if I update faster then I won't have time to work on my next story which is … in need of a lot of work.**

 **Guest Sorta: Oh, no reason, *hides***

 **Guest: Actually (and I double checked this) I was working on this story before that episode even aired … believe it or not … so I didn't know about that spell but I have modified the story to be more up to date.**

 **RobLebron: Honestly, I'm a little happy that Toffee died, I knew he wasn't going to be redeemed (this is a show where there are people who are evil, it's not Stevin Universe where everyone becomes an ally) so him dyeing was, at the very least, done the best that I thought it could. I do wish that Marco managed to accomplish something that was productive (and yes, I have been very hard on him about that because I think it'll be important) but other than that, I really liked it. I don't think they are both going to the dance just yet, Marco has just been asked a lot and he hasn't said yes yet.**

 **Guest: Now I want to make the gif of Aladdin and Genie where Genie tells Aladdin to tell the truith only with Marco's face instead of Aladdin and Glossaryk instead of Genie but I can't make gif's.**

 **Heavybond56: I do not think you will be truly prepared for what happens next, and thank you for the tear, I hear that tears from those who don't cry often are quite nutritious.**

 **Pdsntk: Star does make many mistakes, she just has to learn from them.**

 **ArtGirlLullaby: I will get those tears from you Lully, even if I have to kill Marco right as he's going to tell Star that he forgives her and that he was Charo all along to do it! And thank you.**

 **Disclaimer: Star vs. the Forces of Evil characters belong to Daron Nefcy.**

 **Beta read by Sabrina06**

* * *

(Star's POV)

(The next day)

I was silent as I sat at the back of the bus on the way to school with only one question in my mind _Does Marco actually have feelings for me?_ I thought to myself. _I mean it's not like he wouldn't. I mean we've been close for so long that he has to feel something more than friendship._ I turned to look out the window. _Unless I've ruined that by keeping things from him._ I looked back to the seat in front of me as I placed my hands on my knees. _I haven't been the best friend I could be, and there's also the fact that he's been aware that I've been lying to him for quite some time._

"You look deep in thought." I heard Jackie say, causing me to turn to look at her. "Mind if I sit?"

"Not at all." I moved over and patted the seat next to me. "Please."

"Thanks." She said as she sat next to me. "So what's vexing you?"

"Vexing me?" I asked pretending that I was fine. "There's nothing vexing me, I'm perfectly fine."

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "I didn't ask 'if' there was something vexing you, I asked 'what' is vexing you."

I let out a sigh and turned away. "It's that obvious, huh?"

"Are you kidding?" She began as she rested her hand on the back of her head. "The only thing I don't get is why you haven't blown the wheels off this bus."

My eyes went wide as I slowly turned to her. "Wait, you knew about that?"

"I wouldn't say I knew … but I figured." She began. "But enough about my time dating Marco, let's talk about why you're so upset."

"It's about Marco." I replied.

She rolled her eyes. "I figured that much, I could give you some pointers." I shot her a glare and she reclined. "Okay, I'm sorry."

I eased up and shook my head. "No, I'm sorry; you did ask him out first." I paused as I realized something. "Wait, you're not with him again?"

"How exactly would I get together with him again? We did break up for a reason."

"I don't know." I said as I looked down. "I … I just …"

"He just needs a shoulder to lean on Star." She replied. "And with you being … distant … I'm being that person."

"I'm not trying to be distant." I replied.

"Are we really going to go over this again?" She questioned. "Star, if you need to talk about something then just do it."

"Fine." I surrendered. "Do … do you know if Marco … has feelings for me?"

She looked at me incredulously. "What?"

"Do you know if Marco loves me?" I asked again. "That's what's been bothering me, I don't know if I ruined my chances or … if I never had any chance to begin with."

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, but even if I did know then I shouldn't tell you."

"I know." I replied. "But that's what has been bothering me."

"I see." She replied. "Well … there isn't much you can do but take a chance and hope for the best."

"Is that what you did?"

"Hey, it worked." She replied.

"Until you two had that falling out." I replied.

"I wouldn't necessarily call it a falling out. I mean Marco was never really himself when we were together but it just means we weren't mean to be." She tried to hide it, but I could tell that she was feeling sad about something and it wasn't hard to guess what that something was.

"You … ever wish … you could be with him again?"

"Oh what do you think?" She asked. "It's Marco Diaz, the never give up, never stop caring, never want to see you cry safe kid."

"He is something special." I said as I looked up.

"You don't have to tell me, I've already kissed him and it was heavenly."

"I know." I replied a little annoyed. "Don't remind me."

She laughed and sat back again. "Well, I wish you luck."

"Thanks." I replied. "I will definitely need it."

* * *

(Marco's POV)

(After school)

Star and I were almost home from school and I could tell there was something off about her; she was unusually quiet all day and she was occasionally sneaking glances at me, more so than usual and it was starting to worry me. _She might be thinking about ending your friendship._ My mind told me. I ignored my mind's negative remarks and pressed forward. _You know it's going to happen, she already told you twice._

"She told Charro twice." I said in a hushed tone.

'Same person, same thing, but you still know that it will happen.'

"So what if I do?" I replied.

"You say something?" Star asked.

"No." I replied.

'That's right, keep lying to her; I'm sure that will make her change her mind.' I shook off the thoughts and continued walking.

We soon arrived at home and I went straight for my room with Star close behind. When I got to my door I quickly turned around to close it, only for Star to be standing in the way. "Can I help you Star?"

"I … I wanted to talk to you."

'Here it comes.' I thought to myself. "Fine … come on in." I moved to the side and opened the door to let her inside. "After you."

"Thank you." Star replied as she walked inside.

I followed Star inside and took a seat in my chair as she stood a short distance away. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"In a word? Us."

"I figured." I replied as I leaned back. "So … you want to start?"

"Yeah." She rubbed her arm and looked down and to the side with a nervous look on her face. "I … today is Thursday."

"Yes it is."

"And I … I haven't been invited to any royal balls this week."

"So you say."

She took a deep breath. "I … I wanted to know if you wanted to come with me to the party the football team is throwing tomorrow."

"What?!" I asked in disbelief. "Why are you asking me? Shouldn't you ask your boyfriend?"

"I did." She replied. "He's going as well, but I want you to come with me too."

I turned around in my chair and shook my head. "I'm not sure I want to."

"Marco, what's wrong with you? You get upset with me after every ball I go to, and that's understandable, but usually by now you stop being upset."

"You think something is different about this week?" I asked as I turned back around, as if not already knowing what she was talking about.

"Well … maybe … you see, I've … I have told you a number of times that you couldn't go with me because you weren't invited but … I never actually bothered to see if you were invited." She shrugged and raised her hands. "I always assumed that it would be marked on my invite if you were also invited; but it just never occurred to me until recently, when my friends said that they personally sent you an invitation … and then I realized … I may have made a mistake."

"Really?" I asked as I leaned forward.

"Yeah, and my constantly saying that 'you're not invited' or 'no, you can't come' or 'Marco, just stay away from it, I don't want to see you there' might come off as a bit … rude."

"You don't say!" I replied sarcastically.

She playfully rolled her eyes. "Yeah, especially if you had been getting an invitation or two … it might have sent the wrong message and … I just wanted to apologize for being so mean and short sighted."

I stared at her, feeling as though an elephant had just been lifted from my chest. I wanted to forgive her, to tell her that I didn't blame her, that everything would be alright, but I knew the truth, Star said all those things because she already knew that she had messed up. "Lies."

"What?"

"You claim it was naivety but it was really apathy." She looked at me confused and I decided to start explaining. "Star, I know the truth, you said all those things because you simply didn't want me there, not because you didn't think I was invited."

She looked panicked as she took a step back. "Why would you say something like that?"

"Because." I sat on my chair and turned to my desk. "If you did just think I wasn't invited then you would have at least asked if I was invited, even if you thought it was just to prove a point, you still would have asked."

"I … considered it … did you?"

I turned back around and gave her a disappointed look. "Well … that's number two." I turned back and opened my desk drawer.

"What's in there?" Star asked as she tried to get a better look.

"I will show you." I pulled out the pencils and notebooks I kept in there but for the moment, I left the fake bottom in place. "The thing about hiding something is … you need to know when it's been found." I reached to the back and placed a finger on a piece of paper that I kept between the fake bottom and the back of the drawer. "Normally all you would have to do is see if the thing you're trying to hide is still there or not, or if it's been tampered with." I looked up at her. "But sometimes you have to get creative." I pulled out the piece of paper then lifted the fake bottom revealing all the invites.

"That's a lot of invitations." Star said surprised. "Marco I-"

"That's not what I wanted to show you." I turned back around to face her directly and held up the fake bottom. "This is a fake bottom." I held up the piece of paper. "This, is a piece of paper that I always put between the fake bottom and the back of the drawer." Star's eyes went wide as she began to catch on. "Anyone else who found the fake bottom would just assume it was part of an invite that got torn off and pay it no mind." I sat back and closed my eyes. "Meaning that if it's missing, I know someone has been in there."

She began scanning the room with her eyes trying to find something to look at other than me. "It could have been your parents who went in there."

"Couldn't be." I began. "My dad knows about it and my mom would have confronted me."

"Maybe it was Janna? She loves invading your personal space."

"Janna?" I asked. "You think she waited this long? I caught her a while ago and she probably doesn't even know it yet."

"Maybe she tried again?"

"Perhaps." I placed the fake bottom on my lap and interlocked my fingers and looked her in the eye. "But tell me this, I never said that someone went through it."

The look of dread on Star's face intensified dramatically as she realized what she had done. "I … I just … what makes you think it was me?"

"I never said it was you." The dumbfounded look on her face was almost amusing but I had other things on my mind. "You went through my room, you invaded my personal space, and you lied about it." I threw the fake bottom on the floor and looked up at her. "Anything else you'd care to admit?"

She was struggling for words for a moment until she let out a sigh of defeat. "Fine … yes, I found them a few days ago, but I didn't tell you because I was scared that I had made a major mistake."

"Enough, with the lies, please." I sighed and sank into my chair. "You wouldn't do something like unless you were backed into a corner and desperate to get out, much like you are now." She closed her eyes and bit her lower lip as I went on. "You though I might be on to you, so you checked to see just how bad it was and tried to weave a lie around the truth to try and make me believe that this was all just an oversight and I would forgive you."

"And what makes you think that?"

I held the small paper between my index finger and middle finger and showed it to Star. "Because if I didn't have this … I would have believed you had simply made a mistake." I let go of the paper and we both watched as it slowly fell to the floor leaving us with an odd silence.

"You know … if you didn't want me there … you could have just come out and said it."

"Wha-" She exclaimed. "Marco, that's not-" She stopped mid-sentence, as if her mind had caught up to her words. "Okay … but why do you think I would ever just say that?"

I felt my confidence fade as I tried to stall for time, making the moment I had stretch out for as long as possible; but eventually, it had to come to an end. "Because you don't want to be friends with me anymore."

She leered back a little and looked as if she was astonished or offended. "Marco, I would never-"

"Enough lies already!" I hollered as I shot up trying my best not to cry. "You think I'm blind? There's this, and the fact that you've been avoiding me for a long time now, what am I supposed to make of that?"

"I … I haven't been avoiding you."

"When was the last time we spent time together?" I questioned.

"A month ago." She replied quickly. "Movie night, remember?"

"You left before it was a quarter of the way through." I reminded her.

"I didn't like the movie."

"But you love romance movies." I exclaimed. "And even if you didn't like it then you could have said something, I would have changed the movie."

"But you were enjoying it."

I sat back down and looked away. "I would have enjoyed spending time with you a lot more." I paused as I tried to wipe away a tear without her noticing. "It's been three months Star, three months since we last had fun together."

I turned back to see she had a horrified look on her face. "Marco I … I didn't mean for things to go like this."

I shook my head. "Then tell me I'm wrong." I looked up at hopping that she would say something. "Tell me the truth, give me the real reason why you've been keeping me at a distance or just be done with it!"

Her expression turned cold and lifeless as I felt my heart stop. _Marco, you idiot._ Star turned around and quickly made her way out slamming the door behind her leaving me in my quiet room. I sat there for a time before slowly turning around and staring at my desk. "Why?" I sat there for a moment more before lifting my arm into the air and slamming my fist into my desk. "WHY!?"

I was furious beyond belief; I knew that this was going to happen, yet I was still having trouble dealing with it. Part of me had wanted to be wrong, but her lack of a response and exit, being all the definitive proof I needed "Why couldn't I have missed something? Why did I have to be so … thorough?" I shoved everything that was on my desk to the floor and slammed my fist into it again. "That means … all I have left of her is …" I quickly grabbed my backpack and threw it onto my desk. "One thing." I pulled out the mask of Charro and held it in my hands. "This is your fault." I said as my hand began to shake. "Gold … such a fragile metal. It would be so easy to just … shatter you."

The temptation was strong, very strong. I didn't want Star to become my obsession but I didn't want to spite her by making her boyfriend disappear. Thankfully however, common sense returned to me and I put the mask down. "No … I can't … not yet." I slid the mask back into my backpack and closed it. "I need to be done with this."

* * *

(Star's POV)

I rushed into my room and closed the door as fast as I could, making sure it was tightly closed before I curled into a ball and began crying. "You just had to be prepared, didn't you?" I asked as tears continued to stain my cheeks. "And now I … I … I've lost you Marco." My eyes popped open as I unfurled from my little ball of sadness. "No, I haven't." I stated. "Marco thinks I've been avoiding him all this time because I want to stop being his friend, but if I tell him the truth and apologize, then everything will be all right!"

My smile soon faded as I fell to my knees. "But then I have to tell him that I love him … which I can't do while I'm dating Charro." I let out a sigh and made my way to my bed, throwing my face into my pillow. "Meaning I'm going to have to break up with Charro and that's not going to be easy on anyone." I pushed myself to one side and looked out my window. "And I still don't know if Marco feels the same way about me … but at least he will know that it wasn't because I didn't want to be his friend and then-" I paused. "Well the worst thing that could happen is that things get incredibly awkward between us … but I guess that's better than nothing between us."

I rolled into my back and let out a slight laugh. "Well … figuratively speaking of course, having nothing between us physically would be rather nice." I placed a hand on my stomach and soon found myself daydreaming. "Oh … I'm doomed."

* * *

 **Well I'm just going to take a shower and go to sleep now GOOD NIGHT!**

 **Enjoy your day and please leave your tears in the collection bucket.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Hi guys, how do you like my new posting day? So I originally wanted to get this posted this morning but I was too … let's just say I couldn't. I hope you like this chapter, especially after the last one. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to sleep for another seven hundred hours.**

 **Oracle6044: Because they don't know that the other one loves them and they want their friend to be happy and still be their friend … well, Marco doesn't know that Star wants to be his friend so he may or may not be close to confessing himself … then again, Star might be ready to do the same, it's all a matter of perspective and what I ultimately end up doing.**

 **Guest Sorta: Ha ha, oh, you haven't even seen the full force of what I can do yet.**

 **Advait2003: Good, goooooooooood.**

 **Robertkellett: You will have to wait and see. You bring up a good point, do I do the miscommunication thing a little too much? Something tells me I do.**

 **Those-carrots: Looks like I'm going to be well fed tonight!**

 **Putxi: Well, you still got about thirty seconds to get ready … sorry, times up.**

 **JJmmmmmlol: That's nice of you but it's not a matter of writers block, it's a matter of it not being good and other things that I won't mention due to me not wanting to spoil it.**

 **RobLebron: Well of course it is, they're still keeping secrets from each other.**

 **Disclaimer: Star vs. the Forces of Evil characters belong to Daron Nefcy.**

 **Beta read by Sabrina06**

* * *

(Marco's POV)

(The next day)

To say that things were awkward would be an understatement; throughout breakfast, the bus ride to school, the classes we had together, and the walk home. Star hadn't said a single thing to me, or even looked in my direction, not that I could really blame her. "I guess I was right then." I said as I threw my backpack onto my bed. "She doesn't want to be friends anymore."

I let out a quick sigh and sat at my desk and gently rubbed the indent I had made the previous day. "But right now I'm more concerned with what I'm going to say to her when I tell her that I'm The Charro."

I froze, as if not expecting myself to say that. "I'm actually going to tell her that I'm Charro … or rather Charro will do the talking but-" I got up and walked over to my backpack. "I'm not who she thinks he is." I pulled out the mask and held it in my hands. "I'm Marco Diaz."

"Who are you talking to?" I quickly shoved the mask back into my backpack and turned around to see Janna sitting in my windowsill.

"Janna!" I exclaimed. "What … what are you doing here?"

"You never answered my question." She said as she hopped onto the floor. "Have you thought about going with me tonight."

"Tonight?" I asked. "Janna … why are you even asking me? I thought you had a crush on John Keats."

She scoffed at me. "So?"

"So why me if you don't have a crush on me?"

She spun around in the chair and looked at the ceiling. "I don't know, maybe it's because … you're not the worst guy out there."

"Gee thanks." I replied. "Nice to know I'm not last."

She came to a stop and smiled at me. "Well, I do already know as much about you as anyone can."

I took a look at my backpack then back to Janna. "One would assume."

"So … you want to see what happens?"

"Are you joking?" I asked as I gave her an incredulous look.

"I'm sure that nothing will come of one date, but it doesn't hurt to try."

"It could."

"Well tell me, do you think this would?" She leaned over the armrest and smiled. "Tell you what, if you agree, then I'll even lay off the spying for a week."

I let out a sigh as I thought back to the last time Janna asked me to be her date. I had almost said yes, but I had stopped caring about being a bad boy, thus I had said no. This time however, she made a very convincing argument and deal which, like before, I wanted to agree too had it not been for my secret identity.

All this however made me think of how my life would have played out were it not for Star. It would have been bland, sure, but my life was headed back in that direction anyway. I would probably still be nodding at Jackie, or, giving that we had a falling out, maybe I would have gotten over her but what would have happened right here and now? Would I have just taken Janna up on her offer? Would I have taken her up on her last offer? Would we have actually gone out?

"Uh, hello?" Janna asked snapping me out of my trance. "You in there?"

"Yeah, I'm here." I replied slowly. "I'm sorry, I have something I need to do tonight so I can't go with you." I felt an odd sense of guilt overtake me. "Maybe next time?"

"Whatever." She got up from the chair and stretched out her arms. "It's your loss."

"Maybe." I replied.

Janna walked over to the window and opened it, stopping only to take a quick look at me again. "You know, there might not be a next time Marco."

"I know." She hopped out the window and onto the grass below as I walked to the window and closed it. "I'm going to need to get a lock for that window."

I walked back to my chair and sat down. "Janna … and me." I began thinking about it, but eventually just shook my head. "No, it would never have happened, even if I did go out with her."

* * *

(Star's POV)

I was in my room getting ready for tonight, I had almost everything ready, but I was still troubled to no end. "I'm breaking up with Charro tonight." I reminded myself as I paced back and forth. "This … isn't going to be easy."

I stopped for a moment then rushed over to my mirror and threw the curtains to the side. "Call, Ponyhead."

"Calling Ponyhead." The mirror replied.

After a moment of waiting, Ponyhead's image flashed onto the screen as she smiled. "B fly!" She exclaimed. "What is up girl? It's been so long since we've talked."

"It has." I replied. "I'm sorry I haven't been able to keep in touch as often, it's just …"

"There's no need for apologies B fly." She replied. "So what's the scoop? We hanging out, you need advice, or help dealing with someone?"

"All the above?" I asked.

She looked intrigued. "Ooo, tell me more."

I began to rub my arm as I tried to smile. "See, thing is … there's a party happening on Earth tonight and … I was planning on breaking up with my boyfriend there, and I wanted one of my best friends there in the event I need emotional support."

"Boyfriend?" She asked. "First I'm hearing about this and you're already breaking up with him?"

"I'm sorry, I was meaning to tell you sooner but … things got complicated with me accidentally making it official; thus forfeiting the dibs I had on another guy I liked. Now, so far everyone I talk to says that I shouldn't have gone out with someone I just met, but I wasn't planning on staying with him for a very long time and all week has been-"

"A week?" She asked. "You've only been going out with him for a week and you're already going to break up with him?"

"He's not necessarily bad." I explained. "It's just …"

"Wait, let me guess." She looked at me a little disappointed. "Did you by chance meet this guy at Ash and M's?"

I gave a guilty smile. "Ha ha … yes."

"B fly!" She cried. "You know better than to date masked strangers!"

"But he is just so nice, and I knew that I would be breaking up with him at some point anyway."

"Okay, whatever." Ponyhead replied. "But what about Marco?" She gave me a knowing look. "You don't want him to comfort you after an emotional breakup like this one?"

"Well … Marco and I are … not on the same page right now."

"Explain." She demanded.

"It's like this; Marco thinks I'm trying to avoid him because I don't want to be his friend anymore."

"Why would he think you're trying to avoid him?"

"Because I'm trying to avoid him." She shot me an annoyed look. "I know, but he thinks it's because of a completely different reason."

"I didn't say anything." She replied. "So why are you breaking up with this mask guy? Did he do something bad?"

"Well no, I … I need to tell Marco the truth and I can't do that while dating someone else."

"Are you kidding me?!" She exclaimed. "B fly, if Earth Turd is making assumptions about you then that's on him, you don't need to spoil your good time for that!"

"I know, but I have actually been ignoring him." I replied. "He's my … one of my best friends and he feels neglected, and he deserves to know why." I crossed my arms and turned away. "Besides, I wasn't going to stay with Charro anyway."

"I suppose Charro is the name of your boyfriend." I nodded and she sighed. "Okay, I'll be there."

"Sweet! Thanks Ponyhead!"

"Well, you know, only the best for my besti and all that."

"You rock, I'll see you tonight!"

"See you tonight B fly." The connection cut off and I let out a sigh of relief.

"Now all that's left to do is figure out what to say."

* * *

 **I'd very much like too lie down and stare at the ceeling for ten hours but I have work later today … I feel down for some reason and I don't know why.**

 **Enjoy your day and please leave your tears in the collection bucket.**


	21. Chapter 21

**So Yeah, I know I'm a little late but I was busy, I'll try to be on time the next time I post. Now how about I get to those reviews.**

 **Robertkellett: I also want to find out more about Marco and Janna's past but we will have to wait on that. Well the party is happening so wait and see. Well maybe you won't have to deal with it for long, this chapter isn't that long so there's no need to deal with it for an extended period here.**

 **Guest Sorta: You should be.**

 **Oracle6044: Soon.**

 **Advait2003: Maybe it will, who knows.**

 **: I'm updating as fast as I can.**

 **Putxi: Well, Janna technically did have feelings for Marco first so there's that.**

 **RobLebron: How did you guess? … nah, I'm just messing with ya … or am I?**

 **CallMeJesus: Thank you, but I wouldn't say I'm the best .**

 **Disclaimer: Star vs. the Forces of Evil characters belong to Daron Nefcy.**

 **Beta read by Sabrina06**

* * *

(Star's POV)

Ponyhead and I had arrived at the house where the party was being held and we could already hear loud music coming from inside. "Looks pretty tame, you sure this is the place?" Ponyhead asked.

"I'm sure." I replied. "It's an earth party so they can't use magic."

"What? No magic? Well that's lame." She pouted. "Man, this bites."

"Uh … pony?"

"What?" She looked at me, confused, then realized what I was trying to convey. "Oh, right, right, emotional support, I'm sure you'll do fine and all, but in case you need me, I'm right here."

I smiled and then knocked on the door. As soon as the door opened enough, Ponyhead rushed in and I smiled as I shook my head. "She never could resist a party." Just as I was about to say hi to the person opening the door, my words got caught in my throat as I didn't actually believe what I was seeing. "Janna?" I asked in disbelief as she stood before me in a pink sundress.

"Don't you dare say a damn thing Star." She hissed.

I tried to hold back my laughter with obvious difficulty. "Wha … what are you wearing?"

"I lost a bet, okay!" She exclaimed. "Jackie wagered that I wouldn't be able to get a date with Marco without the use of blackmail or extortion. But seeing as Marco isn't here with me, I have to wear pink dresses for a whole week!"

"And what would you have gotten if you won?"

Janna looked to the side and pouted. "She would have to wear purple and green for a month."

"Well … it's not that bad of a loss." I said as I held back a fit of laughter.

"Don't start with me Star." She retorted. "I've tried everything I could think of, he should have said yes days ago but he still wouldn't go out with me."

"Well did you try that dress?" I asked jokingly. "You look so adorable. Sure, he might have been drooling for a bit but I'm sure he would have gladly gone out with you."

"Must you attack me while I'm vulnerable?" She asked.

"Are you ever truly vulnerable?" I asked as I walked in. "Besides, wouldn't wearing that for a week beat wearing it for a whole month?"

"I guess but-" She stopped as her face looked as if she had just gotten an idea. "Do you know if he'll be here tonight? Maybe I can go double or nothing and get out of this if I make out with him."

"He's not coming." I quickly replied. "So … does that mean you really weren't interested in going out with him?"

"No I was." She said as she closed the door behind me. "The bet was an added bonus, plus it gives me an excuse to go out with him seeing as I'm not crazy over him."

"Well that's … interesting." I turned around to see what was going on at the party. The party was mainly taking place in the relatively large living room which was down the hall from where we were. Most people, including Ponyhead, were already dancing to the music, along the wall sipping something or other, or in the kitchen which was separated from the living room by only a counter. In addition, I could also see a few people out back who were either just talking or trying to take a break from the action that was happening inside. "Well, all I do now is wait."

* * *

(Marco's POV)

Star had left for the party a short while ago and I was putting the finishing touches on my outfit for tonight. This was more or less the same outfit)I had worn to the ball last week but I was making sure that it looked nice; it was going to be the last time he ever appeared after all. "Now let's see, I've got my shoulder cape, red shirt, black jacket, black dress pants … now what am I forgetting?"

"How about your sense of self restraint." My father asked from the door. I let out a sigh, I didn't even need to look at him to see how disappointed he was in me right now. "Marco, this has to stop."

"It will." I replied as I threw on my shirt.

"It's one thing to say it and another to actually do it."

"I know." I replied again. "I'm telling her tonight." My father was at a loss as I continued getting ready. "I'm done pretending to be someone I'm not. I'm going to tell Star who I am, she's probably going to hate me, but she already stopped being friends with me so … whatever I guess."

"Marco."

"Not right now dad." I said as I put on the remainder of my outfit.

"Marco, wait." He pleaded. "Just … make sure you don't do anything you may regret."

I paused and nodded. "I'll be safe … I promise."

"Okay … just … make sure."

"I will." I walked over to him and gave my old man a hug. "Now if you'll excuse me."

"Sure … sure." He closed the door leaving me alone in my room.

"Okay … here goes." I pulled the mask out of my backpack and with one final breath, placed it upon my face.

I waited for the same sensation of blacking out to overcome me but for some reason, it didn't come, I was still me, still the same old Marco inside and out. "Well that's different." I said in my normal voice. "Normally … never mind." I cleared my throat and began using my Charro voice. "Looks like I'm all set, time to get going."

I made my way down the stairs and out of the house for the long walk to the party which would give me plenty of time to think. "You should rethink this." I said to myself. "You are going to give up everything you have, and for what?"

"For what's right." I replied. "Star deserves the truth, or at the very least, I should have the dignity not to wear a mask in front of someone I would call my girlfriend."

"But which mask is real Marco?" My voice asked. "The one that hides your face? Or the one that is your face?"

"I don't need a philosophical lecture from you." I replied as I continued walking. "She will find out sooner or later, so it's best if I tell her now."

"But think about all you have to lose."

I shook my head. "I only lose if she finds out from someone else." I continued to march forward. "I won't be changing my mind."

I continued the remainder of my walk in silence. After a while, I finally managed to find the house where the party was taking place, it was extremely large and you could hear the music coming from it a block away, not that hard to miss really. "Well, here goes something."

I knocked on the door and waited for it to open revealing, of all things, Janna, in a pink sundress. "Are you … Janna's twin?" I asked trying to maintain my composure.

"That's very funny you punk." She retorted. "I don't have a twin, and for your information, I lost a bet, I thought I would be able to convince Marco to come here with me, but apparently, he wasn't interested."

"Ah." I replied. "That explains so much, but you do make the best of a bad situation."

She blushed as she continued to leer at me. "Don't you have someone else to flirt with?"

"I wasn't flirting." I replied as I walked past her. "I was simply giving a compliment, you were the one who was flirting."

I continued walking, leaving Janna behind me and made my way into the living room where the party was being held. It may have been just a short walk but when I reached it, it looked like it was twice the size of my living room and it was almost packed with high schoolers, there was even a D.J. "Now this is something else." I said softly. I'm not sure if it was because somehow everyone heard me, or because everyone noticed me walk in, but slowly, everyone stopped dancing and turned to look at me, in shock. I almost felt like I was going to have to start fighting everyone but thankfully, there was no battle royal. "Did I miss something?"

Everyone slowly went back to what they were doing as I made my way over to the counter that separated the kitchen from the living room and took a seat. "I feel like I missed out on a joke."

As I was about to pour myself some ginger ale, I was attacked with a surprise hug. "Charro!" Star exclaimed.

"Star." I replied.

She let go of me and pulled up a seat right next to mine. "So, how've ya been?"

"I have been well." I replied as I took a sip of my ginger ale. "If I may though, why does everyone look at me like I have done a great wrong?"

"Huh?" Star turned around and saw that a few people were steeling glances at the two of us. "Oh … that might be … my fault."

"How so?"

"Well …" She began playing with a strand of her hair as she avoided eye contact. "I … was planning something tonight … but one of my friends went and 'accidentally' told a few people."

'Ponyhead.' I thought to myself. "And by some people I take it you mean-"

"Everyone here?" She nodded. "Yes. I am still very cross with her."

I let out a sigh and smiled. "Sometimes friends can really get under your skin, and sometimes they know just how to cheer you up."

She smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I suppose … could we … go outside?"

"Why outside?"

"Fewer prying eyes?"

I took a quick look behind us and noticed that more than just a few people were sneaking glances at us and figured that outside might be a better idea. "That would probably be the best course of action."

I tossed my cup into the garbage and we both stood up and made our way to the sliding glass door as the crowd nearly parted for us. _This can't be good._ I thought to myself. _If she figured it out already then I'm in trouble._ I quickly shook that thought from my head. _No, I'm in no deeper trouble then I already am, it matters not._

She opened the sliding glass door and let me through first and closed it behind us. The deck was rather large, not as large as the living room but it was still large. What's more, it was completely empty which prompted the question if we should even be out here. We walked over to the far rail and both of us leaned against it and looked out over the back yard at the quiet night sky. "It's nice, isn't it?" She asked.

"That is one word to use." I replied. _This is it._ I thought to myself. _It's now or never._ I took a deep breath and began my confession. "Star, there's something I-"

"I want to breaking up with you." She interrupted. There was a long moment of silence after her proclamation that I didn't really know how to deal with; sure, I expected this to end today but I didn't think she would be breaking up with me before I told her who I was.

"I'm … sorry?"

"No, I'm sorry." She replied. "Thing is … I shouldn't have asked you out to begin with. That's also what Ponyhead has been telling everyone."

I let out a sigh and leaned against the railing. "Yeah, I … figured."

"It's not what you think." She began as she turned to look at me. "Look, I believe that you're a really nice guy, I believe that you mean well, and that you want what's best for me." She sighed and looked back at the night sky. "Thing is … I may believe you … but I don't know you." She looked down and shook her head. "I just met you last week and without even thinking, I dragged you into dating me without even knowing your real name. I guess part of me felt like it didn't matter because it seemed like I already knew enough, but the reality is … I don't."

I sighed. "I suppose I had this coming, I mean seeing as I have kept my identity from you … I do feel a sense of pride that you made this decision."

She looked at me curiously. "Huh?"

"When I said that I had something to tell you …" I placed a hand on my mask. "Who I was … I figured you would break up with me anyway. At least now I know it didn't matter one way or another. It's a bit of a relief I guess."

As I began removing my mask I felt Star grab my hand and stop me. "It doesn't matter." I lowered my hand and looked at her in confusion. "You once told me that you weren't the same person underneath, well if that's the case then it doesn't matter who you are underneath that because I'm breaking up with who you are with the mask." She looked over at me. "That's the person I've been dating, so I don't want to know who else you are."

I smiled and turned back to look at the night sky. "I suppose so." We both stared at the night sky in silence.

"Well … I suppose I should go then."

I paused for a moment then nodded. "I suppose so."

She walked slowly back towards the house, leaving me alone to stare at the night sky feeling a sense of emptiness inside me. _I thought it would hurt more._ I thought to myself. _I guess … I'm glad to end this charade once and for all._

* * *

(Star's POV)

I quickly made my way inside as I crossed my arms and tried to keep myself from crying, I had just broken up with my boyfriend only a few days after temporarily losing my best friend and I felt horrible. "B-fly!" Ponyhead exclaimed as she rushed to my side. "Man girl, you look like you've been through hell and back and had to pay Tom a visit.

"Well that's good because that's what it feels like." I replied as I began making my way over to the counter between the kitchen and the living room.

"It's just some guy, it's not like you were going to stay with him for that long anyway."

I took a seat at the counter and leered at her. "Pony, I just broke up with my boyfriend shortly after finding out that I've been greatly disrespecting my best friend and he's very cross about it."

"Well then, you need something to drink." She looked around really quick. "Hey, where's that earth stuff that you kept telling me about?"

"You mean soda?" I asked.

Just then, someone placed a cup of clear fizzing almost teal liquid in front of me. "Bad day?" A guy's voice asked. I looked up to see a boy with short blond hair and gray eyes smiling down at me. "Some light soda always helps me."

"Oh, why thank you." Ponyhead proclaimed. "Star has had the worst day ever."

"There there." He placed his hand on the drink and pushed it towards me while I had the sneaking suspicion that I recognized him from somewhere. "Bad days happen to all of us, what's important is that we just forget about them and move on."

I looked at him then at the glass and ultimately put aside my suspicions. "I guess you're right." I said before taking a sip.

* * *

 **And now work on the next chapter, see you all later.**

 **Enjoy your day and please leave your tears in the collection bucket.**


	22. Chapter 22

**I know, I'm late, but I have a reason, I was at camp two weeks ago so thus I wasn't able to work on any of my stories. Now I'm home and I should have plenty of time to procrastinate my writing and keep everyone in suspense. Now how about we get on with the reviews?**

 **Robertkellett: Well, I figured that it was obvious who he was but it has been some time since I started this story so it might not be as obvious to everyone else ass it is to me.**

 **Alifakadrake: Taking that bet would be a bad idea.**

 **Heavybond56: I'm willing to bet that you don't, I didn't even expect it and when it happened it struck me with so much fear because I realized that I had to write it.**

 **Advait2003: There is always hope for Starco.**

 **Putxi: Indeed.**

 **Guest Sorta: Don't be apprehensive, I mean what's the worst that could … oh … yeah, that might be a good idea.**

 **Proluxe: Yes, it is not ordinary coca cola … it's GINGERAIL! And maybe it has something more.**

 **S.t.a.r.c. .131313: The story isn't over just yet, I've got plenty more chapters left to go.**

 **RobLebron: I'm actually starting to think I won't be able to top that … but let's see what happens!**

 **heartsDmise: I'm not so sure that my next chapter will be as good … I mean it's basically my greatest weakness but that's not till later.**

 **Guest: LANGUAGE!**

 **: I will, don't worry.**

 **JJmmmmmlol: You'll have to wait and see.**

 **Guest: It's mostly ginger ail.**

 **Disclaimer: Star vs. the Forces of Evil characters belong to Daron Nefcy.**

 **Beta read by Sabrina06**

* * *

(Marco's POV)

I continued staring out into space for a rather long time, I knew it was a bad idea to stay there for too long but I just didn't know what I was going to do next. "And here I am, ditched by Star on both fronts." I expected one of the two voices that have been plaguing me to say something, but all was silent. "I guess this means I truly am alone."

"Only as alone as you choose to be." I heard Jackie say.

I turned around to see her wearing a sea green sleeveless dress with only a strap that went over her right shoulder and a thin skirt that flowed down to her ankles. All in all I was rather unaffected by how she looked in it and just turned back around to look at the sky. "Well the only person I wanted to be with right now has just dumped me so I don't know what choice I have."

She walked over to me and stood on the side opposite to where Star had stood. "Why are you so hard on yourself?" She asked. "Did you not recently confront her about her not wanting to be your friend anymore? If she just broke up with her boyfriend after that then there might be more to this than you realize."

Her words stayed with me for a moment before I shook them out of my head. "She walked out of my room after I was done with my accusation, what else could it be other than a coincidence?"

"She could be in love with you." Jackie replied.

I scoffed at her words. "Don't try and give me hope Jackie, if Star did love me then she wouldn't have been trying to replace me."

"Or maybe you're just majorly misinterpreting the situation." She replied. "But whatever the case, I'm sure you'll bounce back soon enough. You always do."

I sighed and looked down. "Yeah … I just need to figure out what I'm going to do."

"Well don't take too long." She replied. "Life just may pass you by."

She started to walk away, but before she got too far I turned around to address her. "Oh and by the way, Janna seems to have lost a bet of some kind and now has to wear pink; you wouldn't happen to know anything about that now, would you?"

She smiled. "Haven't a clue what you're talking about." She turned back around and continued walking inside as I smiled and turned back to look at the sky.

"Maybe things will start looking up now." I was about go home when a bad feeling began to overcome me. I knew what this feeling was, I got it every time Star was in trouble or was doing something very reckless. I was about to go search for her, but after a moment, I shook my head. "It's not my concern anymore." I told myself. The feeling intensified and with it, a sense of dizziness. "Maybe just a quick look." I walked over to the sliding glass door and took a quick look inside and not to my surprise, but concern, there was Star, sitting at the counter sipping something handed to her by a guy with short blond hair and a twisted smile that I recognized. "I know him." I said as I looked on in disgust. He may not have been wearing his mask but I recognized him all the same, it was the guy I punched at the masquerade ball. What was more concerning however was that Star had her chin on the counter and was waving her hands as she spoke so I'd wager that what he was giving Star had a little more than just soda in it. "I can't let this guy get away with this." I said to myself. I was about to go in but I remembered my dyed hair meant that I couldn't go in as Marco. "Damn it." I said as I took a look at my reflection in the window. "Looks like Charro's going to have to do this."

I cleared my throat and threw the door open causing some of the spectators to turn and look at me. I paid them little mind as I made my way over to where Star was sitting alone with a concerned Ponyhead and the scum that was currently fooling both of them. "Excuse me." I said as I walked up to them.

Star and Ponyhead looked at me, confused, while the scumbag looked at me with disdain. "Charro?" Star asked.

"I'm not here to talk to you Star." I said as I walked up to the guy and grabbed him by the collar. "You think I'm not going to recognize you just because you don't have a mask on do you?"

Ponyhead rushed between me and the scum forcing me to release him. "Hold on a second masked man, there's no need for you to get all worked up because you got dumped."

"This has nothing to do with that." I said as I gently pushed her to the side. "This is the guy from the ball that doesn't know the meaning of the word 'no.'"

"Huh?" Star questioned as she took another look at the guy.

"Now hold on a minute here." He replied. "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, I was never at any mascaraed ball and I never hit on Star."

"I never said what ball it was, and I never directly said you were hitting on her."

"Hey!" Star exclaimed with a drunken smile as she pointed at the guy. "He's right, I recognize your sickly long fingers."

He turned to looked at Star, annoyed. "Now that was uncalled for."

I looked at Star realizing that she wasn't acting like herself and knew that something unusual had to have been in what she was drinking. "What is in that drink you're giving her?" I demanded.

He crossed his arms and turned away. "Not that it's any of your business but it's nothing I've never had before."

"What is it!" I demanded again.

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "It's only some fifty percent alcohol."

"And I've had three!" Star cheered.

"Oh no." I said as a cold sensation came over me.

"Yeah, that's bad." Ponyhead added. She turned to look at the guy who had been giving them to her and leered. "You little scum bag, how dare you-"

Ponyhead wasn't able to finish as the guy shoved her away and looked back at me. "This isn't your problem masked idiot, you've been dumped, so run along; and you're overstepping your boundaries."

"I don't need a reason to stand up to people like you."

He shook his head and before I knew it, he leapt over the counter and kicked me in the chest sending my flying back and into a crowd of people. "You need to learn some restraint." He replied. "Maybe I should teach you some, and this time, you're not going to get a lucky hit off."

"I don't need to." I replied as I got up. "It's never hard to take out the trash."

We began marching towards each other when the leader of the swim team, Chad, stepped between us, halting our fight. "Now hold on you two, I don't care what's wrong but there's not to be any fighting in this house, or at this party."

The scum sneered at me. "Then it looks like someone is just going to have to mind his own business and leave me be." He turned around and started walking back towards Star until Ponyhead got in the way.

"Now hold on here, I'm not going to let you continue trying to mess with my friend."

He didn't stop to hear what she was going to say, he simply knocked her aside and continued as I felt my anger grow.

"Now hold on a second." I began, causing him to stop and turn around. "I may not be able to fight you but there is one way we can settle this." I took a step forward and pointed at the scum. "I challenge you to a dance off!" There was the scratch of a needle against the record as the music came to a stop and everyone turned to look at me. I didn't know if it was the ridiculousness or the guts that I was expressing but I just pressed forward. "If I win, you will leave this place and leave Star alone forever." He scoffed and turned away but I had one more trick up my sleeve. "Or are you too much of a coward to accept such a challenge?"

The crowd oohed as he slowly turned back to look at me. "What did you just say?"

I stepped forward with my other foot and leered at him. "You drugged a woman to get what you wanted, that is beneath craven, it is beneath deprived!" I clenched my fists as I resisted the urge to hit him in the face. "It is beneath the scum I thought you were … so what does that make you?"

"Oh, you wana go?" He asked. "Listen here you masked sap, I accept your challenge, but I have a wager of my own."

"Name it." I replied.

"If I win." He looked back at Star and smiled. "I get her."

"I do not wager what is not mine to give." I began. "Even if I know I will not lose, a man should never risk something he does not have."

"Fine then!" He spat. "Then I'll take the same wager, you leave this place, and that severed horse head as well!"

Ponyhead leered at him. "Uh, excuse me, I'm a pony." She looked at me and then back to the scum. "But I'm down for this."

The scum smiled and held up a finger. "And I want one more thing."

"You already stand to gain more than me." I crossed my arms. "But go on."

"Your mask." He began. "If I win, not only will the two of you be forced to leave, but I get to tear that mask from your face."

I closed my eyes and turned around and Ponyhead ran up to me. "Come on Charro, you can take this guy."

"No, he can't." The scum replied. "So what do you say?"

"I say," I spun around and stopped as I pointed my finger at his smug face. "Let the music play!"

* * *

 **Fun fact, of all my stories this one has the third most reviews, yet it's nowhere near second place and with the chapters I have left, it won't get there. Not that I'm upset or anything, I expected since this is much shorter. Now to work on that dance off that I still don't know if I got it just right yet.**

 **Enjoy your day and please leave your tears in the collection bucket.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Well, sorry this took me so long to get out, I'm not good with action scenes, remember? Either way, I need to work on a few different chapters now so let's just get to the reviews. Also this chapter is short, you have been warned.**

 **Robertkellett: Well he's not allowed to fight, even if the other guy did to something deplorable. I have a plan but you will have to see what happens.**

 **Proluxe: Thank you.**

 **Guest Sorta: I see your problem, but I may or may not solve it.**

 **Putxi: Well … to be fair, in the actual show her only purpose is as Marco's crush, that also her entire character as well.**

 **RobLebron: Marco deys his hair every time he turns into Charro, and he actually decided on deying his hair before then. Well I'm not sure how he found Star on Earth, maybe he's just a little bit too obsesses.**

 **Guest: Win Marco!**

 **JJmmmmmlol: At least someone got the reference, you have no idea how happy that makes me.**

 **Meadow Feather: Well wait no longer! The chapter is here and it's unbelievably short.**

 **Disclaimer: Star vs. the Forces of Evil characters belong to Daron Nefcy.**

 **Beta read by Sabrina06**

* * *

(No one's POV)

As the D.J. fumbled with a record for a moment, the two opponents: Marco, masked as Charro, and the blond haired boy, attempted to intimidate the other by staring each other down. "Let's make this the best two out of three." Charro stated with grim determination.

"Make it whatever you want, you don't stand a chance." The blond haired boy replied.

A form of jazz music came on, not unlike when Marco first wore the Charro mask; leaving both with a nostalgic feeling and anticipation.

The blond haired boy took the initiative, starting with a moon walk before doing a backflip, landing with his arms out as if bowing.

Charro, not wanting to be outdone, stepped back, throwing his arms out, and doing a small wave. He then slapped his hands together and turned into a spin before stopping on a one handed handstand.

The crowd cheered for Charro as he took a bow earning him the first point.

The blond haired boy cracked his neck and took a step closer. "If that's how you want to play it."

It was now Charro's turn to start, but as he moved forward the blond boy did a helicopter leg sweep forcing Charro to fall to the ground before the blond boy jumped to his feet and completed his spin. With Charro on the ground, the point for the second round when to the blond boy.

"Right where you belong." The blond haired boy said to Charro. "On the ground before me."

"I'm not down yet." Charro replied as he got to his feet. He brushed himself off before getting ready for the final round.

As the two readied themselves for the final round, the blond haired boy motioned for Charro to go first once again.

Charro took a breath and a step forward just as the song was reaching its final segment. Just as Charro was about to begin however, the blond boy once again attempted to knock Charro off his feet. This time however, Charro knew it was coming and he managed to do a front flip over the boy's sweep and what's more impressive, Charro landed on the blond's shoulders causing the boy to fall as Charro did another forward flip just in time to avoid falling with him; landing with a bow just as the song ended. The onlookers were at a loss for a moment before bursting into applause giving Charro the winning point.

As much as Charro wanted to enjoy this victory, he knew that he had to claim his prize and leave. He no longer had business there, seeing as Star had just broken up with him and if she hadn't been drugged then he would currently be massively overstepping his boundaries. "And so it ends." Charro said as he stood up and turned around. As he did however, he was met with a blow to the face that cracked the delicate gold of his mask as he spun around and fell to his knees. The crowd watched in horror as the blond haired boy smiled with pride and blood began to stain the floor beneath where Charro knelt.

"Pathetic masked idiot."

* * *

 **Yeah, I know this chapter was short, but I thought it ended at the perfect spot so theres that as well.**

 **Enjoy your day and please leave your tears in the collection bucket.**


	24. Chapter 24

**I know it's late but I have a reason that I will explain, over on Wattpad, someone stole my story 'Nothing Comes Easy' in addition to many other people's stories, and was trying to pass them off as their own. This … this ticked me off … a lot. Naturally, someone else got to them before I could so it's okay for the most part. Thing is, I HATE it when people try and steal my story, I worked really hard on it and the thought that someone would just take it and post it as their own without my permission or anything really makes my blood boil. But enough about me and my problems, let's get to those reviews.**

 **Guest Sorta: I agree, he needs to die.**

 **Advait2003: He is going to be in some big trouble, that's for sure.**

 **Proluxe: I think you're forgetting a minor detail, like Star being mostly intoxicated.**

 **Guest: And I need for people to not steal from me. Sorry, just upset, it's not your fault.**

 **RobLebron: Well you will have to read to find out what happens now will you.**

 **Guest: You said it friend.**

 **: I will update as fast as I can so long as no one steals from me, otherwise I'll put everything on hold until they're gone and I feel better.**

 **JJmmmmmlol: That's an old game you were playing there my friend, and you're not trash.**

 **Rezrex15529: I appreciate that, thank you.**

 **Guest: I will make a better note at the end of the chapter that will better explain why it took me so long to update.**

 **why u no update: Why? Why do I suck for not having the time to give you something that you are getting for free?**

 **Bree: I'm going to explain this in detail at the end of the chapter.**

 **S.t.a.r.c. .131313: I will explain later.**

 **Disclaimer: Star vs. the Forces of Evil characters belong to Daron Nefcy.**

 **Beta read by Sabrina06**

* * *

(Marco's POV)

Everything was spinning around me as I tried to make sense of what just happened. I was competing with a jerk in a dance off, I had just won, and now I was on the ground with massive headache and a warm sensation running from my forehead down to my nose. "What hit me?" I asked as I began to rub my head. "Wait." I passed my hand over my eyes, then rubbed my face a bit before realizing that my mask was now missing. "NO!" I shouted as my eyes shot open as I finally managed to fully recount what had happened. I had won the dance off but my opponent had punched me in the face which is what caused me to fall to the ground. It didn't take long after that to realize that the warm sensation on my face was blood, and my mask was now in pieces in front of me. "It's-" I closed my eyes and rubbed my face again. From what I gathered, the blood was coming from a gash that came from part of the broken mask getting lodged into my face before falling out. "I guess I'm lucky I didn't lose an eye." I said as I pushed myself to my feet.

I turned around to look at my attacker and smiled, most everyone was looking at me with a expression of shock or confusion, and some with a smile for some reason. "Well I hope you're satisfied." I began. "You still need to hold up your end of the wager, you leave, and never bother Star again."

"Excuse me?" He asked as he began to walk towards me. "I don't have to do anything."

I shook my head as I prepared myself for a fight. Before I could even take a step however, I felt someone place a hand on my shoulder and spin me around. "Star?" I asked in disbelief as she looked into my eyes. "Yeah …. I probably have a lot of-"

"Marco?" She interrupted. She looked a little groggy still and as if she was still trying to process what she was seeing but I could still tell that she was upset.

"Yeah … it's me." I replied in defeat.

I expected her to hit me, lecture me, or maybe not even care, but I honestly wasn't really sure how she would react at this point with all that had happened, so it was more or less up in the air. "You …" She pushed me to the side and raised her arm to point at the blond haired boy. "You."

"Me." He replied, a little smug.

Star leered as she jerk then stumbled towards him. "You … you hurt my Marco!"

"Your Marco?" He asked a little afraid. Before he could ask further questions, Star punched him in the stomach sending him flying a good ten feet before he landed grasping. "You little-" Before he was able to finish his sentence, Chad grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up.

"Dude, you lost and you're a sore loser at that, not to mention you drugged one of my guests."

"What's it to you?" The blond haired boy asked.

"You've made a mockery of our swim team party." More of the swim team came over, and together they carried him to the front door, opened it, and tossed him out; causing him to collide with the cold pavement of the street.

As the door closed, everyone's attention slowly turned to Star and myself as if I actually had something I wanted to say. "Okay then." I began as I scratched the back of my head. "I guess I have a lot of explaining to do."

Star nodded her head up and down as her eyes began to gloss over and she began to wobble. As her legs gave out and she began falling, my instincts kicked in and I immediately dashed forward to catch her. As she lay in my arms, she looked up at me with an innocent smile on her face. "You look like Charro, you know that?"

I couldn't help but let out a small laugh, I was sure that Star wasn't going to remember a thing but thanks to the massive crowd around us, I was still going to have to tell her what happened in the morning. "I know Star."

I lifted her and placed one of her arms over my shoulder and used my other arm to support her. I then turned to look at everyone around us. "So is everyone going to keep staring or what?"

The D.J. quickly fumbled with another disk and as soon as it was on the turntable, most of the crowd went back to partying with the exception of Ponyhead, Janna, and Jackie. "So, are you going to be okay Marco?" Ponyhead asked. "Because you got a cut on your whole … face area."

"I'm going to be fine Ponyhead." I replied. "I'll get it looked at when I get home."

I began making my way to the door until I felt someone place a hand on my shoulder. "I … think this is yours." Jackie said as she handed me the fragmented pieces of my mask.

"Ah." I took the pieces with my free hand and placed them in my back pocket. "Thank you, I would have forgotten it."

"You're actually taking that?" Ponyhead asked.

"Well yeah, I mean it's still made from solid gold so I can still melt it down and sell it for scrap."

I continued out the door, making sure to close it behind me. "You know." Star began. "You look a little like Marco."

"I know Star." I replied as I pulled out my phone and began calling my father.

"Marco?" He asked.

"Yeah it's me." I replied. "Hey, can you come pick us up?"

"Us?" He asked. "Is Star with you as well?"

I sighed and nodded. "Yes dad."

"Oh … I'll be there soon … you need me to bring anything?"

"Towels would be nice if you can find them quickly." I replied as I noticed he drops of blood that were falling from my face. "But just get here as soon as possible."

"Okay son, I'll hurry over." He hung up and I reached my arms back up to keep Star's hand around the back of my neck and we began our wait.

It took some time for my father to arrive but when he did he looked at the two of us in shock. "What happened mi hijo?"

"It's a long story dad." I said as I opened the rear door and placed Star in the back seat.

"You know, you look a lot like Marco and Charro." She said with a drunken smile.

I reached over and grabbed the seat belt and pulled it into the latch on the other side. "I know Star." I replied before closing the door and getting in the front seat. "Did you manage to bring the towels?" My father pulled out a role of paper towels and handed them to me. "Thank you."

He turned the key to the ignition as I ripped off a towel and pressed it against my face. "Now what happened?" My father asked as we began to move.

"The short version? Star broke up with me, someone tricked her into getting drunk, I challenged said someone to a dance off and won, he punched me in the face," I paused to show my father the broken mask. "Which caused this, which is why my face is bleeding. Star punched him, he got thrown onto the street, and then I called you for a ride home."

"Oh." My father quickly glanced at me then back to the road. "You had … quite the night."

"We sure did."

There was an awkward moment of silence as my father tried to find something to say. "We should get that cut looked at."

"I'll be fine." I said as I changed the towel. "The bleeding is slowing so it can't be that deep."

My father looked at me then glanced back at Star in the rear view mirror. "So … exactly how drunk did Star get?"

"Look at all the trees running past us!" Star exclaimed as she looked out the window.

"Enough that I will probably still get the chance to tell her that I was the Charro."

"Ah." He looked back to the road as we continued down the road. "So what will you do now?"

"Not sure." I began. "I have to help Star. Then I guess I'll see what happens tomorrow."

"You don't have a plan?"

I threw the towel away and shook my head before getting another one. "I need to see how she reacts to finding out that I'm the Charro first."

"Good idea."

The remainder of the ride home was rather silent, yet somehow, relaxing. By the time we did arrive home my face had stopped bleeding but Star wasn't showing any signs of coming out of her daze.

"Come on Star." I said as I opened the door to the back seat.

"Where are we?" She asked. "Did the racing trees carry us somewheres?"

"We're home Star." I replied.

"Marco's house?" She asked. "No, he doesn't want to see me … I've been mistake making around him."

"Uh … okay?" I replied as I released Star's seat belt and helped her to her feet.

"I should have talked to him sooner and not gone with mask man to things."

"You are going to need a lot of water." I carried her into the house as my father tried to lend a hand.

"Marco was so close … I thought it would be easy but maybe I was just fooling myself."

"I have no idea what your talking about Star." I said as we made our way inside. As soon as we closed the door, my mom ran up to me with a horrified look on her face.

"Oh my gosh, Marco, what happened to you?"

"Long story mom, I'll explain it later but right now, we need to get Star into the kitchen."

My mom rushed over to the kitchen and pulled out a chair as my father helped me carry her in.

"Why are we going into the kitchen?" Star asked. "Is it supper time already?"

"No Star." I replied as we set her down on the chair. I quickly walked over to the cabinet, pulled out a glass, filled it with water and brought it back to her. "Here, drink this."

* * *

 **Okay, so better explanation time, the next time someone steals my story, I will put everything on hold immediately until the copy of my story is taken down, then I will resume the usual update plan but only after the copy has been removed. That goes to everyone, DO NOT STEAL FROM ME! Or anyone else for that matter. Now with that out of the way, time to go to work.**

 **Enjoy your day and please leave your tears in the collection bucket.**


	25. Chapter 25

**This next chapter is a little short but it's a chapter that we have to get through to get to the end. Personally, I'm a little tired right now so I'll keep this short and get through the reviews.**

 **Oracle6044: I'm fine now but thank you.**

 **Guest Sorta: Thank you, and Marco received that as a part of his invitation.**

 **Nameless Dude 13: Yes.**

 **JJmmmmmlol: There are plenty of great stories out there that are better than mine but I appreciate your excitement.**

 **Disclaimer: Star vs. the Forces of Evil characters belong to Daron Nefcy.**

 **Beta read by Sabrina06**

* * *

(Marco's POV)

The night had dragged on, but after a lot of water and a not too pleasant episode of Star throwing up, she was finally asleep and now it was time to address my injuries. "How could you have been so careless?" My mom asked as she wiped my cut with disinfectant. "An inch in either direction and-"

"I would have lost an eye, I know." I was looking away from her, not wanting to look at my mother's disappointed face or my father's face either for that matter, who was standing just behind my mom.

"I thought you would be more careful than this." My father stated.

"I was! But he punched me in the face, it's not like I saw it coming either so what could I have done?"

"That's not what I meant." He began. "How could you have let things get so out of hand?"

"I don't know!" I felt a sting of pain come over my face. "Ow!"

"Hold still, I'm almost done." My mother lectured.

I let out a small grunt and continued. "I just … I just wanted to see what those royal events were like, but … it's like I became Charro and he had a mind of his own."

My father sighed and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Marco, the problem here isn't between you and Charro."

"It's not?"

"No, the problem is between you and Star."

I rolled my eyes and looked away.

"I'm serious mi hijo, you and Star need to communicate more; had either of you done that, then this problem would never have happened." He removed his hand from my shoulder and continued. "All relationships are built on communication, it can fix or break any friendships or relationships and if you think yourself to be Star') friend, then you should work on your communication."

I glanced down as my mother finished cleaning my cut. "There, that should do it but I still think it would have been best to go to a hospital."

"I'm fine mom … and you're right dad."

"Oh really?" He asked in disbelief. "If that's so, then what are you going to tell Star when she wakes up."

"That I've been the Charro this whole time?" I began. "And that I shouldn't have kept those invitations from her at all and I'm very sorry about it?"

"Are you asking me or are you telling me?"

I sighed. "I'm telling you … now can I go to sleep?"

My father reluctantly nodded and I got up and started making my way upstairs. As I began to make my way to my room I stopped for a moment and looked over to Star's room. "Maybe just to check up on her, see if she's doing all right." I opened the door to her room slightly and looked in to see her exactly as I left her, lying down on her stomach with her head to the side and a bucket next to her bed in case she was going to throw up again. Against my better judgment, I walked over to her and dropped to my knees right next to her. "This is all my fault, isn't it?" I asked. "I knew you didn't want me to go to that dance or whatever, yet I still did; and now … had I not gone, then at the very least, you wouldn't be in this predicament." Star continued to lay there, silent as a corpse. I took out the pieces of my mask and put them on her night table. "I have a lot I want to say … but that will have to wait till tomorrow I guess."

I was extremely tired and it was getting late, I didn't want to stay all night but I could barely work up the energy to get to my feet. "Maybe I'll just … close my eyes for a few minutes."

* * *

(Star's POV)

As I tried to open my eyes I felt the light burn against them as my head began to ache like never before. "Ugh! Why does my head hurt so much?" As I began to rub my head, I realized that something didn't seem right. "Wait a second, where am I?"

I struggled to open my eyes and was a little relieved to find myself in my room, but I still had many questions. "What is going on?" My eyes eventually adjusted to the little bit of light that was in my room and I began trying to piece together what happened. "Okay, so last thing I remember … I broke up with Charro." I nodded. "Yeah, I remember that … but what else?" I racked my head for answers but all I got were fragments. "Damn it." I placed my hand down next to me but what it landed on was not my bed, it was soft, fuzzy, and somewhat round in shape, as I looked at it I recalled back in shock at the familiar red fuzz that I was looking at. "Charro." I said softly he had his face down so I couldn't see it but I could tell it was still him. "Wait … but I broke up with-" I cut myself short as I noticed his mask sitting on my nightstand, only it was broken in two pieces. "Okay, okay, I can't remember much, Charro's mask is broken, and he's right next to me … why?"

I didn't feel like thinking right now on account of my aching head, but I couldn't just fall back to sleep either. I was so frustrated that I flopped back down onto my bed grasping at my head. "Why did I have to lose my memory of last night?"

As I tried to figure out what to do, I felt movement come from right next to me and out of instinct, turned my head just as Charro was waking up. I mentally kicked myself as our eyes met for turning and tried to look away, but it was too late, his face, and his identity, were already burned into my mind. "Marco."

* * *

 **And with hat, I will bid you all adu until the next update.**

 **Enjoy your day and please leave your tears in the collection bucket.**


	26. Chapter 26

**Hello everyone, I am here today with another chapter if this fic that I'm writing. I hope you've all enjoyed it thus far because it's coming to an end soon. I don't have much else to say though, so I'll cut right to the reviews.**

 **Robertkellett: I'm glad that you're enjoying it and I will assume that you mean that Star and Marco need to work on their communication with each other.**

 **Kuriyan BBQ: Well it did take me a while to update it before so I decided to update it a little early. You can always be more upset, especially with someone you care about.**

 **Oracle6044: I know.**

 **Guest Sorta: Thank you.**

 **JJmmmmmlol: It's always fun to steel other people's lines, I'm joking, but seriously, I'm greatfull that you stick around.**

 **Disclaimer: Star vs. the Forces of Evil characters belong to Daron Nefcy.**

 **Beta read by Sabrina06**

* * *

(Star's POV)

There were too many questions going through my head right now, and it was not helping my all ready aching head. "Marco …I … I just-"

"I'm guessing you have a few questions." He replied.

"That is the understatement of the year." I retorted. "I'm not even sure where to start."

He was silent for a moment before nodding. "I'm … guessing you don't remember much from last night."

"Let's start with that then." I replied.

"Okay … well … after you broke up with me-"

"Charro." I corrected. I had no idea what had possessed me to make such a statement but I simply rolled with it for the time being. "I broke up with Charro, not you."

"Okay … after you broke up with Charro, you went inside while … Charro stayed outside."

"You can just say you for that."

"But you just said-"

"I said I broke up with Charro." I replied. "I … I just wanted to make that distinction … carry on."

Marco shrugged but continued. "Okay, after all that, I stayed outside while you went inside. I had a talk with Jackie before deciding that it was time for me to go home, but as I made my way to the door, I saw you sitting across from the guy I punched at the ball, drinking what I would later find out was something containing a high percentage of alcohol."

"That explains why I can't remember anything, and why I have a massive headache." I noted as I looked to the side. "Wait a second, you were talking with Jackie? Did she know you were the Charro?"

"She … found out" Marco began. "I changed at the local gym but … Jackie works there and she saw Charro leaving the locker room without having entered."

"Ah … so … you and Jackie … weren't dating?"

"I'm over her Star." Marco replied. "And even if I wasn't, I was dating you … or at least part of me was, and I would never cheat on someone."

"Oh," I felt my heart begin to race again. "That's … okay … go on."

"Anyway, when I saw him with you, I confronted him and we had a brief scuffle before we were informed that we weren't allowed to fight. After that, I challenged him to a dance off, I won, he got angry and punched me in the face."

"He … oh my." I slowly ran my finger over the cut on Marco's face, somehow not noticing it until now. "Marco ..." Had it been any other kind of circumstance I would have been upset with Marco trying to protect me, but seeing as I was impaired, I couldn't be angry at him for at least looking out for me. "You got hurt … because of me."

"Ha! A lot of good I did, you were the one who threw him across the room, I simply carried you home and make sure you drank enough water to reduce the hangover."

"Hangover?" I asked as I rubbed my head. "You mean it was going to be worse?"

"Oh yeah, it could have been a lot worse."

"Wow … that's … a scary thought." We continued to sit there for a moment until I managed to come to a conclusion about what I should ask next. "So why were you sleeping there?"

"Here?" He asked. "Well ... I was checking up on you … to make sure you were okay … I guess I was more tired than I thought."

"Oh … well … it's sweet that you took care of me, I'm very grateful for that."

"It's the least I could have done." He replied. "I mean what with me … being the Charro and all."

I nodded in agreement but honestly, I didn't agree with him at all. I wasn't sure if it was denial over the fact that I had just broken up with the boy I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, or hope that I may still have a chance with him, but I wasn't ready to accept that my Marco was also the Charro, sadly, I had little choice. "So … tell me … about your connection to the Charro."

"My connection?" He asked.

"I don't know!" I exclaimed. "Why did you do it? How did you do it? What was it about? Tell me something because … because I don't know, just say something!"

Marco sighed and nodded. "Okay then, it started with the masquerade ball; you told me that I wasn't invited, but I was, so I wanted to go, seeing as you wouldn't notice me there. I went, you saw me … or the Charro, I guess, you … I think you fell in love with him." He bit his lower lip. "That was never my intention though Star, please, you have to believe me on that."

"I believe you." I replied as I looked away. 'Seems fitting that I fell in love with you twice anyway.'

"Okay then, so … I … I didn't want to lead you on like I did … I knew I couldn't stay with you but … it almost seemed like I couldn't control myself when I was Charro and… and I was … scared."

"Scared?"

"Of losing you." Marco replied. "I wanted to break things off the day we were supposed to meet in the park but …"

"I said I didn't want to be friends with Marco Diaz." I finished.

Marco nodded. "I panicked. Thing is … I really cherish what we have but … I can't make you do something you don't want. It took me some time to realize this but … I realized that being with you doesn't mean anything if it was a lie. As such, I was planning to tell you the truth yesterday but … you broke up with me-"

"Charro." I interrupted again. "I broke up with Charro."

Marco sighed. "Okay, you broke up with Charro before I could tell you … but here we are now and … here I am now … I'm sorry … I shouldn't have deceived you."

"Yeah … you shouldn't have." I replied. I could not help but feel sorry for Marco; sure, I knew it was wrong for him to pretend to be someone else, but I had also kept a lot from him, which actually caused all of this in the first place. I was at a loss, mostly on account of my splitting headache. "Look … Marco … my head still hurts so … can I have a few minutes to think this all through?"

"Huh? Uh, sure, sure." He shot up and began to take a few steps back. "I'm sorry to have bothered you with this so early in the morning … I'm … going to take a shower." He rushed out of the room, making sure to close the door behind him.

"Okay then ... what do I do?"

* * *

(Marco's POV)

I quickly left Star's room, making sure to close the door behind me. "How on Earth did I end up falling asleep?" I asked myself.

"Good morning mi hijo." I heard my father greet. "Did you enjoy your talk with Star?"

I slowly turned to him feeling annoyed and somewhat angry. "Did you know I fell asleep in there?"

He avoided my eyes as he continued. "I … may have."

"Dad! Seriously?!" I exclaimed. "You could have woken me up!"

"But then you wouldn't have known how to tell Star, this way, you didn't have to."

"Wasn't that supposed to be my decision?"

"Look at it this way mi hijo." He began as he placed a hand on my shoulder. "At least this way you're not grounded for trying to deceive one of your friends." He removed his hand from my shoulder and walked away leaving me stunned and almost speechless.

"I'm … going to take a shower now."

* * *

 **And so ends another chapter. I must admit, I was a little sad today but this really cheered me up, I mean I know this story has been finished for months and I have two more in the finishing workshop, and on still in the works, but I'm glad about how this turned out, so until next time, see you later!**

 **Enjoy your day and please leave your tears in the collection bucket.**


	27. Chapter 27

**Hi there friends, so, it turns out that the new episodes of SVTFOE are coming out next week and I for one am excited. The bad news, well, I've seen the episode synopsis … and I also have two stories that are ready to begin being published … but I still have one more chapter left in this story. What I'm going to do about it is … I'm not sure. However, if luck holds out … then I … could start them before the week is over … that's right, two stories that I made to get ahead are going to be started at the same time. This is why you should not procrastinate. Now I won't be posting three chapters a week, barring their initial post (if I'm lucky) I will continue to only post one chapter a week. Now how about we get to those reviews?**

 **Kuriyan BBQ: Well my friend, I appreciate your commitment, truly, it means a lot to me. And you should get the final chapter next week.**

 **Oracle6044: In time my friend, in time.**

 **Robertkellett: Thank you, I'm glad to hear you think that, and thank you very much for sticking with me all this time.**

 **Guest Sorta: There teens, and they are scared, they're not going to just come out and say what's bothering them. Though I do understand your frustration.**

 **Nameless Dude 13: Yessssssss, soooooon.**

 **Guest: Thank you.**

 **Zaid Ocram: Thanks man, I also find that many people bing my work … which isn't a good idea, sometimes I make really long fics so binging could take hours sometimes.**

 **Arkraith: Well, I understand that it can be fixed by them just talking to each other (and that the same thing over and over again can get tiring) but remember, both of them only knew half of what was going on so they didn't know how the other would react. But yeah, I do need to work on a new style.**

 **.OTP: Well your wish has been granted … I know you didn't make a wish … but I have the next chapter anyway.**

 **Disclaimer: Star vs. the Forces of Evil characters belong to Daron Nefcy.**

 **Beta read by Sabrina06**

* * *

(Marco's POV)

I had just finished one of the hottest and longest showers I had ever taken; I had to make sure to get all the red out of my hair, from last night. "Guess this is the last time I'll be doing that." I said to myself. I took a good look in the mirror, scrutinizing my hair and much to my relief, there didn't' seem to be any permanent damage from the hair dye. "Well that's one less thing to worry about." I noted before I began getting dressed.

As I was about to walk out of the bathroom, I took a moment to check my phone for the time and was shocked to find that, in addition to having over a hundred texts and missed calls, the day was all ready half over. "I don't remember being up for that long last night." I said as I stared at my phone.

I shrugged it off and made my way to my room. Before I could open the door however, I heard Star calling for me. "Marco? Are you out of the shower yet? I would like to talk to you." She asked.

"Huh?" I made my way over to her room and let myself in. "Is everything all right?"

"Yeah … everything's fine … I'm feeling a little better."

"Well that's good to hear." I replied. "So … what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Oh … yeah … it's about … what you did."

"You mean being the Charro?"

She shook her head. "No … I mean when you said that I didn't want to be friends with you anymore."

I was a little caught off guard by what she was saying, I would have assumed that she would want to talk to me about my actions as the Charro first but I guess I figured wrong. "Okay then … what do you want to know?"

"I want to know why." She explained. "I want to know … I do know the reasons, you all ready told me … but … was it also because of what I told Charro?"

I slowly nodded. "That … did add to it."

"I was lying."

"Huh?"

"I said I was lying, I didn't want Charro to get the wrong idea about you and me … so I downplayed our relationship."

"Why did you do that? Did you think Charro would be jealous of our friendship?"

"Not of our friendship, of … well …" She gripped her blanket tight and began to shake a little. "How do you feel about me?"

"How do I feel about you?" I asked. "Star, you're my … you were my best friend."

"I mean do you feel anything else for me?" She clarified. "Or to be more specific … are you in love with me or was that just an act?"

I felt a twinge of guilt, of all the horrible things I could have done, pretending to be in love would have been the worst. Thankfully though, at least I wasn't guilty of that, and I wasn't about to lie about it, not anymore. "That was not an act Star." I replied. "I … I love you."

Her expression remained the same for a time before she slowly sat up and placed her feet firmly on the ground. "Oh …" She let out a small snicker. "All this time … all this worrying."

"Worrying?" I asked.

She sucked in her lips and nodded before tapping the spot next to her. "Sit down please."

"Why?"

"Just sit." She replied.

I still wasn't sure what she was doing, but I opted to listen and took the seat next to her. "You know you never said that before." She began. "That you were in love with me, as the Charro."

"I know." I replied. "There are two reasons for that."

"And those are?"

"Mostly because Charro felt like … like I was actually someone else … it didn't feel like he was the one in love with you."

"And the second reason?"

I swallowed and took a moment to brace myself. "There's an old saying … if a man doesn't have the courage to tell a woman that he loves her without looking her in the eye, then he has no business telling her at all."

She began nodding again while trying to force a smile. "Right … of course …that's just like you." She broke out into laughter leaving me very confused. "All this time." She placed her palm on her forehead and slowly stopped laughing. "I guess it's my turn now … to explain myself for yesterday." She took a deep breath before she began. "First things first … I'm sorry about going through your personal things without asking … it was wrong. Second, you were mostly right, I … I was trying to avoid you, and I also didn't bother to check to see if you were invited because … I didn't want you there, but it's not for the reason you think."

"Then why?"

She was still for a moment as she stared off into space. "Because … I was afraid … and I wasn't ready."

"Ready for what?" I asked.

"To grow up." She whispered. "I just wanted to stay young, have fun, and not face the responsibilities of being an adult with a serious relationship." There was a moment of silence until I slowly began to burst into laughter. "Hey, what's so funny?"

"The thought of you, well, growing up." I said as I tried to calm myself.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Star asked as she shot me a leer.

I calmed my laughter and took a moment to smile at her. "You honestly think that you're going to grow up and be some completely different person?" I shook my head. "Star, you're nothing like your mother, and I know that no matter what happens, you'll always be the fun loving, adventure seeking, monster butt-kicking Star Butterfly I've always known." I placed a hand on her shoulder and she smiled. "Sure, you'll probably change a little but deep down, you're still be you. But what does that have to do with this?"

"Oh right." She began. "You see Marco, thing is, I've fallen in love with you."

I felt a sense of dumbfoundednes and awestruck, almost like someone had broken a window inside of me. "Wha?"

"I mean I didn't handle it the best way and all, and I'm sorry about that. You're my best friend and taking our relationship to the next level would mark a huge change in our lives. That would make us a bigger part of each other's lives and we would only get closer until our lives became one." She then took a deep breath before she continued, "I was just scared about taking that step so I did everything I could to put it off. But that drove a wedge between us and I was so afraid that I might have ruined things between us and-" She stopped as she took another breath.

"Star?" I interrupted as I managed to pull myself back together. "We need to work on our communication."

She smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, that's something we definitely need to work on if-" she stopped dead in her tracks then placed her hand right next to mine. "Um … does this make us … a couple?"

I felt the blood begin to rush to my face as my palms began to sweat. "Uh … well … let's start with I'll forgive you if you forgive me and see where things go from there."

Star looked down and began to trace circles in the bedspread next to my hand. "Is it really that simple?"

I took her hand in mine and smiled. "We could make it that simple … I'm sorry I got frustrated with you, and I'm sorry I tried to be someone I wasn't."

"I'm sorry I tried to push you away and that I violated your personal space."

There was a strange warmth in the air between us as I felt our bond once again. "I forgive you."

"I never held it against you." She replied.

I smirked as my heart began to race. "S-Star?" I began. "I'm … I'm in love with you and … would you be my girlfriend?"

Star smiled and gently pressed her lips against mine. The sensation was amazing, better then what I felt when she had kissed me as the Charro and definitely better than anything I had felt before. When we separated a moment later, she smiled at me and gently placed her hand on the side of my face. "I would love to."

* * *

 **Aaaaaaaaand now it's time for me to get ready for things that are happening later tonight. Now there is one more chapter, but's it's more of an epilogue than it's won chapter. So with that, I hope you've all enjoyed my story, I'm really self-conscious about one of the stories I'm going to post next. So until next time, see you later!**

 **Enjoy your day and please leave your tears in the collection bucket.**


	28. Epilogue

**And here is the last chapter (which is the epilogue) of the Masked Charro, I hope you all had fun because I sure did. This story gave me more than enough time to finish two other stories (that still need a little work) and hopefully, I'll be able to finish a few more still. Now let's get to those reviews so I can get to other important business.**

 **Arkraith: Thank you, I put a lot of work into my stories so it brings me joy when someone enjoys it as much as you.**

 **Oracle6044: Thank you, and if you want a story that's really good, you should check out EVAunit42's stories. But I do have another story that's coming out right now if you're interested.**

 **JJmmmmmlol: And just in time for the new episodes as well, right?**

 **Heavybond56: Well my friend, many of us are wrong with our theories for this show.**

 **Ky0suke: Yeah, those work, thank you.**

 **Guest Sorta: *Blushes a little* Thank you.**

 **Nameless Dude 13: Uh … yes?**

 **Disclaimer: Star vs. the Forces of Evil characters belong to Daron Nefcy.**

 **Beta read by Sabrina06**

* * *

(Marco's POV)

(The next Monday)

Star and I walked hand in hand as we arrived at the school grounds. "Our first day of school as a couple, I didn't think I would be this excited!" Star exclaimed. "I wonder how different it's going to be."

"I doubt it will be that different." I replied.

"You think so?" Star asked.

"Yeah, the two of us are a team, be it friends or a couple, we stand by each other 'till the end of time. So yeah, I don't think school is going to be any different."

"Just school?" Star asked flirtatiously.

"Then again, I might be wrong." I replied as Star drew closer.

Before either of us could make another move, Ferguson came running up with Alfonzo close behind. "Star! That's not Marco!" He shouted.

"What?" Star and I asked simultaneously.

"You can't be the real Marco." Ferguson accused as he leered at me. "The real Marco would never have kept a secret like being a masked superhero from Alfonzo and me."

"I wasn't a superhero Ferguson." I replied as Star laughed.

"Still, he would have told us about his secret identity! Which means you're not Marco!"

"You would never have been able to keep it a secret." I pointed out. "Half the school would have known by the end of the day."

"He's the real Marco, Ferguson." Star replied. "And trust me, he's gotten plenty of grief all ready."

"But … he would tell us …"

"Look, I'm sorry Ferguson, I just … never got a chance to."

Ferguson leered at me. "Well next time, you had better make sure to tell us, you got that?"

"I'm not going to be doing something like that again Ferg." I replied. "But if it did, I will be sure to let you know."

"That's good to hear." He turned around and marched off with Alfonzo close behind.

"Speaking of which," Star began. "Who did you tell?"

"Well …" I nervously scratched the back of my head. "My dad knew, of course … um … and-"

"Marco!" Janna shouted as she walked up to us wearing a simple pink dress and an expression like she was going to kill someone. "We need to talk!"

Before she could say anything further, Star threw her arms around me and held on tightly. "He's mine Janna." She replied.

"We still need to talk."

"You can't have my snuggle nacho!" Star almost hissed.

"I don't want your-" She paused realizing what Star had said. "Snuggle nacho?" She shook her head. "Never mind that, I need to know, did Jackie know that you were the Charro?"

"What?" I asked.

"I asked, did Jackie know that you were the Charro?"

I looked away with an odd sense of guilt and pride, the whole reason Janna had to wear pink was because of the bet she made with Jackie, which was also partially my fault. "Well, I didn't know she worked at the local gym until she noticed me walking out when I didn't walk in."

"So she did know!" Janna accused. "She cheated!"

"Cheated?" I asked. "Wait, how did she cheat?"

"She knew that I wouldn't be able to convince you to go out with me!" She exclaimed. "She played me!"

There was an awkward silence as a breeze blew down the hall. "Isn't there an Earth saying." Star asked. "About a pot and a kettle?"

"The pot shouldn't call the kettle black." I replied.

"Oh, but that just makes it worse." She turned around and began marching off. "No one plays me! I will get my revenge!" She stopped then turned around and walked back. "Oh, and you know who to call when you and Star don't work out."

"Don't talk to my future husband like that!" Star exclaimed.

Janna rolled her eyes and walked off again, leaving Star and I alone. "So," I began. "I'm you're future husband now?"

"Possibly." Star replied. "And by possibly I mean most likely."

I laughed and wrapped an arm around her. "Well, we need to work on our communication first."

"Oh yeah." Star replied as we made our way to class. "And … speaking of which … I have something I needed to talk to you about."

"Oh?" I replied.

"Yes, you see, there's another royal ball coming up this Friday … and I want you to come with me."

"Is that so?" I asked. "I mean I haven't gotten an invitation yet so I'm not sure if I'm allowed to come … I mean I didn't get invited to every event before so-"

"Screw the invitation." She replied. "If I want to bring you then I'm going to bring you … only … I don't want to bring you as my boyfriend."

"Huh?"

"I mean don't get me wrong, I love you … but you were right, we're friends first and a couple second, and as a friend, I have a lot to make up to you."

"I also have things I need to make up to you as well." I replied. "I mean I did keep things from you."

"You can make it up to me by making our movie night a Saturday and changing it to a movie date night."

"Oh. So Friday as friends and Saturday as a couple?" I asked.

Star nodded cheerfully. "Sound good?"

"Star? I wouldn't have it any other way."

* * *

 **And now, for my final word in this story, I know this chapter was late, but I was a bit distracted yesterday, I'm sorry. To make it up to you, I plan to release another chapter of my unfinished love sentence concert story sometime this week, as well as one on Monday … hopefully. In any event, it's been real fun and I hope to see you all (or as many of you as possible) for my other stories.**

 **One last note, if you haven't already, might I suggest you check out my story 'Nothing Comes Easy?' It started before season one was finished so it's a bit out of tune with the current lore of the show, but I've gotten some positive reviews from it. What's more, it's technically finished.**

 **Enjoy your day and please leave your tears in the collection bucket.**


End file.
